An Owlish Kind of Morning

Often early in the mornings, my dad, who lives with us, will come knocking on my door either to ask me for help with something, or to tell me he's going somewhere or to show me some critter. This morning, much earlier than usual, I stumbled to my bedroom door, managed to find the doorknob, twisted it open and, saw this:

It took me a few minutes to realize what it was, but then my brain adjusted, and I realized that it was an Eastern Screech Owl. Apparently it had flown into the cabin on our property where my dad is spending his summer and he caught it to send it back out into the world, but not before we woke everyone in the house to show them what Pop had found, each in turn saying sleepily, "What is that?" or "Is it real?" since it sat so perfectly still within Pop's firm grip. Then we took it onto the porch where it flew off into the east, on its search for a quieter place to sleep for the day.

Since I'm not usually up that early, I strolled around outside with my camera.