Northern Saw-Whet Owl

I grew up in the Avenues of Salt Lake City, on a road that rimmed a hill above City Creek Canyon and that canyon was the playground of my youth. I spent many hours exploring it, alone and with friends. In the summer of 1968, when I was between 5th and 6th grade, I took a summer school class from Howard Rogers, one of my teachers at Lowell Elementary School. During summer school we spent a number of days exploring City Creek Canyon, but from the road at the bottom, far below the road I lived on at the top of the canyon. We drove far deeper into the canyon than I'd been before. One morning I was walking down the side of a hill among scrub oak and encountered a small owl standing on a branch at about chest height. It appeared to be sleeping. I clasped it with both of my hands and carried it down the hill. I don't remember if I carried it the entire way in my hands, or if I had a bag I put it into. I transported it in Mr. Roger's car with the rest of our group and that owl became one of my cherished pets and a favorite of my mother. I named it "Gus," but it soon just became "Owl." I would take Owl out of its cage and perch it on my finger. The photo below is me with Owl at my grandmother's home on a Sunday afternoon. 

Owl is the only northern saw-whet owl I've ever seen. Owl's life ended tragically. We fed Owl a mouse we caught in a mouse-trap in our garage and Owl died shortly after. We think the mouse was sick, perhaps poisoned. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.