When a Florida couple received a notification of movement in their backyard in the dead of night, they were initially worried it could be something “bad.”
“There was motion detected, and our Echo device announced it,” homeowner Bradley Farmer told Newsweek. “My wife, who’s not really the outdoorsy type, pulled up the app right away and woke me up.”
It was 3 a.m., and the idea of someone or something moving around their garden at that time would have filled most people with a sense of trepidation over what it could be.
Nothing could prepare Farmer for what he soon discovered it was. “When we saw the footage, it caught us completely off guard.”
It turned out the camera they had set up near the kids’ play set in the backyard had captured remarkable footage of their rarely seen neighbor: an owl. “It is a barred owl and, in the evenings, we can hear its call from the grouping of trees behind our house,” Farmer said.
Measuring between 16 and 24 inches in height, barred owls are common in Florida. They do not migrate and are territorial, particularly during nesting season, which runs from around February to March.
Despite the birds’ size and all-year-round presence, barred owl sightings are not common. This is down to the fact they are well-camouflaged and nocturnal, with days spent quietly resting out of sight.
“We hear this owl often, so it feels like a ‘neighbor’ in a way, but this was the first time we actually caught a glimpse of it,” Farmer said. “A really cool moment.”
Farmer and his family could not be better placed to take in some of Florida’s most beautiful and distinctive bird life.
“We have a lake two houses away from us so osprey red shoulder hawks and swallowtail kites are a common thing to see,” Farmer said. “Every once in a while, a bald eagle will fly over, as well as a flamingo probably three to four times a year. I have seen barred owls in the wild before, but it has been years and years. I was really happy that this was caught on our Ring camera.”
Farmer’s passion for the great outdoors has already spilled over into social media. He regularly streams fishing trips on YouTube and TikTok through his channel @BassFishingFL. So when he watched the footage of this stunning owl perched at the back of his yard, he knew it was something he would have to post online.
“When I saw this owl, it was one of those moments I just had to share,” Farmer said. “It’s something special, and I hope others can appreciate it even a little bit as much as I do.”
The clip was posted to Reddit under the handle u/Tenchi2020. “The Ring camera going off at 3 a.m. wasn’t that bad when I saw who was on my kids play set,” a caption accompanying the clip read.
“Wow! What a great sighting,” one user commented. “Beautiful surprise,” another wrote. “Amazing! Just stopped in to inspect it for creatures,” a third added.
Farmer will be hoping for more Ring alerts from his reclusive neighbor in the not-too-distant future. For now, though, he is happy enjoying this one.
Brad Farmer @ BassFishingFL