Great Horned Owl - Moon

On the evening of Dec 21, my wife and I were enjoying an evening together at home when we heard an owl hooting outside.  I went out to investigate, but the owl fell silent.

Then later we heard it again.

It sounded as if it were in our front yard, but as I tried to locate it by following its call, its location seemed to move.  At one point it seemed the sound was coming from the back yard, but a quick check made it clear it was in the front.

As luck would have, there was a break in the evening clouds and as I stood on our front stoop, I noticed a shape against the moon.  There, at the very top of a tall pine along our driveway, sat a Great Horned Owl silhouetted by the moon's light.

I viewed it through my camera to get a closer look.  How cool to watch it turning its head from side to side against the moon.

I did a lousy job of adjusting for exposure, but I did get this one picture, greatly brightened in post (check out all that noise), that clearly shows the Owl's silhouette.