Here is the owl I got a picture of in October. This photo is severely cropped.
I was shooting photos of the sky using my Nikon and a laptop. About 5 AM, I decided to call it a night.
Was taking the camera off my tripod when the owl hooted only about 30 feet from me. LOUDLY.
Scared the crap out of me. Well, I turned my Nikon on, set it to auto, which would make the flash work in the darkness, and I just spun around and took a photo. Sheer luck that I got a photo of it.
Hint....just look for the eyes....