The New Year's Owl: Encounters With Animals, People and the Land They Share

Near fine hardcover in un-clipped dust jacket.

The injured owl that neighbors brought to Susan Shetterly on New Year's Eve should not have survived -- the compound fracture of one wing was too serious. But part of being a licensed wild bird rehabilitator is taking on the hopeless cases, putting faith before facts. The wing healed, and the owl flew again. It was a small, unexpected victory. These stories, distilling 16 years of living on the coast of Maine, building a home, raising a family, and caring for wounded or orphaned birds and animals are a chronicle of such victories.

"The frozen body of a hare lay partially uncovered, and around it was a faint press of wings like the "snow angels" my children used to make. I retreated into the woods and sat down on an ice-covered stump to wait. The owl would come back and tear at the thin, ravaged carcass. It was only a matter of time. I was willing to sit forever. A layer of ice beneath me turned to water, seeped into my jeans, and froze again, fastening me to the stump. A leg fell asleep. After awhile, I turned cautiously around. The owl was perched in a tree at my back It had been there, I suppose, as long as I had - watching me."

By Susan Hand Shetterly, with etchings by Robert Shetterly, Jr.