Minerals and Mine Tailings

Maybe you are better at this than I am.
I cannot tell whether this is the same owl.
He looks smaller to Mari and me,
but when I compared two photos--
one now and an earlier one--
I cannot tell whether this is The Lone Ranger
or one of The Brady Bunch.

No matter!

It--implying nothing about gender,
because I do not know much about
that kind of thing--seems alert, but composed,
about having us walk by, three or four feet away.

I do not want to get too "oohy" and "aahy" about the little critter,
because the little tad is a killer.  I have disposed of two feathered carcasses
over by the bird feeder since we first sighted this or that owl.
I am trying to remember what it is I like to eat,
and that nobody eats rocks and mine tailings.

If you like, you can think of our house as a safe house,
if you are a mineral or a mine tailing.