Friday morning I awoke around 5:30 and snapped on the radio to get some news. Ken and Mike of the WGAN Morning News were just getting things rolling with their usual bantering back and forth.

I woke up just enough to hear Mike describe how he'd seen an owl now four mornings in a row. Perched right on top of the dumpster at the Tim Horton's drive-thru in South Portland, which he visits like clockwork each morning at 4:15 on his way into the studio.

A real live owl. Right here in the city. Cool. Nice find.

The dumpster location made sense, I thought. An easy source of human food (owls scavenge, don't they?) and likely small rodents. An owl with a good plan.

And besides, hadn't we heard of coyotes sighted within the city limits just a few days prior? Didn't seem too odd.

And with that thought I fell back asleep (it's usually do to Ken's blathering on, but not always).

I woke about an hour later to find a stunned Mike declaring that the owl was a fake. A plastic owl. I missed the details, but somebody who knew better must have called in during the hour I'd dozed off to say that the owl wasn't a real one.

Mike had been duped big time. And now he and Ken--and me--were laughing our butts off uncontrollably. Mike had been so serious and sure about the initial report, and now everybody was peeing themselves.

Mike, with all due respect, if I had to get up every morning at 3AM and drive into the city from Poland to start work at 5AM, I'd likely be seeing owls too. Or worse.

So thanks for the laugh. And you two keep the good work, or entertainment, or whatever it is that you guys do.

And keep us posted on any other "wildlife" sightings, okay?

Just for yucks, I had to go visit Tim Horton's Saturday to check out the mystery owl for myself. Sure enough, there it was. Swivel head and all. A beautiful thing.

These photos are for you Mike. Enjoy!

Anybody else out there seen any "wildlife" they'd like to share with us??