Mountain Brook Nightscape

In early July, I camp at the bottom of Shinagin Hollow in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, a short distance from a small mountain brook. Around midnight, I am awakened by a distant barred owl that screams and hoots from the other side of the hollow. Other owls join in. The concert lasts for over fifteen minutes, finally ending with a lone owl giving a slow-paced series of simple…