Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

And so it was sweet sorrow for the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife in Need Center, as Romeo and Juliet, the Barred Owls were released on Sunday, March 14th, after twenty-nine days of hydration, weight gain and flight therapy. A small crowd gathered in Menomonee Falls, as staff, volunteers, neighbors and the homeowners witnessed the owl’s flight to freedom. The release was set for 6:00 p.m., a time when the impending dusk would allow for better camouflaging should there be any potential predators. As the star crossed lovers were released, Romeo flew onto a nearby tree branch, checked his bearings a glided silently out of sight. Juliet though, much to everyone’s surprise, landed on a nearby chimney similar to the one from which she’d been rescued. Juliet’s stay was thankfully brief, when with a great beat of her wings she was off and flying through the densely wooded lot. I quickly scanned the trees, locating her perched in a distant tree. Through my camera lens I could still see her dark haunting eyes. She stopped in the tree only long enough to take one last look at her captors, as if to say in her silent stare, “Thank you”, then she was gone.

Good-night, good-night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
-Juliet, Act II, scene ii

Guest Blogger -KF