When my friend and I were visiting the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX this past winter, we came across a large open hut built for picnics.

While we were looking around the inside, my friend spotted this Eastern Screech Owl in the rafters. 

I was able to zoom in with the telephoto lens on my DSLR to get this shot.

Unfortunately, it was daytime nap time for this guy, so I wasn’t able to catch him with his eyes open.

“The owl,” he was saying, “is one of the most curious creatures. A bird that stays awake when the rest of the world sleeps. They can see in the dark. I find that so interesting, to be mired in reality when the rest of the world is dreaming. What does he see and what does he know that the rest of the world is missing?”
― M.J. Rose