Finding Echo

Western screech owls are small — and this particular one is the size of a soda can. Perched on the handler’s glove, she holds still. Very still. When she’s in her enclosure, she likes to camouflage, play hide and seek with her keepers. But today she’s out, on show for everyone to see…perhaps that’s why she’s so still.

What a beautiful and peculiar sight, with her one blind eye. Her name is Echo and she is a permanent resident of the West Sound Wildlife Shelter — and a wildlife ambassador.

And as such, she educates us about the hidden animals in our midst — what these owls eat, where they nest, and how they live. Their place in our landscapes. In my neck of the woods, western screech owls are under stress from the growing population of barred owls that often (enough) prey on them.

When drawing her portrait, I hoped to find this particular owl’s something. Who she is. And also to find a resonance of that something in me. Maybe that’s the reason portraits of all sorts interest me so much.

Drawing a portrait is the hope of finding the singular and, in doing so, of glimpsing the universal.

Finding Echo.