Whisper quiet he sits there. The setting sun just touches his plumage. It won't be long before it's dark and then the peace is over. He keeps an eye on everything now that he is alone for a while. A moment ago he was still sleeping with about 35 other long-eared owls on his regular roost. Then there are so many more eyes and ears that pay attention, but now that he has left that place, he will have to keep a close eye on everything himself and he will no longer have time to take a nap. He's ready. Ready for the approaching twilight and the hunt that can finally be opened. He's hungry. Yesterday was not his best day and he only had a meager catch. He had worked hard all night, but his boys kept begging. Their screeching sounded continuously in the darkness. He thinks that's such a nasty sound! It sometimes cuts him to the bone and spurs him on to try even harder. They're like a bunch of teenagers, he thinks: insatiable and noisy. They already feel so big and are moving more and more into the wide world, but in the meantime they still do so little of it. Everywhere they've been you'll find a trail of rubbish. Yesterday, for example, the feathers of a titmouse were really everywhere, but getting it 1x firmly in their legs, ho! That titmouse had plenty of time to sound the alarm, so for now I have nothing to do there. That way they mess up a lot of opportunities for me, but they don't think about that. They just see the fun in everything and only ask when we're going to eat again. I have no idea what those earphones are for. Either way, they can't listen. I've told them so many times now to be quiet and to rely on the unexpected, on the surprise attack, but of course they know better. Like an owl, they think they have all the wisdom, but wisdom comes with age. Oh, they've got so much to learn, those owls of mine, but they'll be all right. It always comes. I just have to set a good example for them and remember that I myself used to be not much different. How shall I sit here fouling my own nest. They are darlings, who just need to be given the chance to make their own mistakes in the confidence that I will be back soon with a lovely field mouse. Let them be my branches for a while.