Seeing an owl in the wild is a rare treat for most people. These nocturnal birds are usually only heard and rarely seen. Imagine the surprise on shoppers at Hannaford Supermarket on Riverside Street in Portland, Maine when an owl appeared perched on the hood of a car in the parking lot.

My friend Joel Coleman of Portland got an amazing photo of this elusive bird framed perfectly with the glowing Hannaford sign in the background, just chilling out on the hood of someone's car like it was its own.

Photo Courtesy of Joel Coleman
Photo Courtesy of Joel Coleman
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Joel also got a video of the owl and at a pretty close distance.

Now I'm not an animal expert, but is the owl possibly injured? It doesn't seem to be afraid of anyone but is constantly looking around to keep an eye on its surroundings. It's so rare anyone can get this close.

I'm also not an owl expert, but a quick search online says that it's probably a barred owl, one of nine owl species common to Maine. Feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong.

This whole encounter makes me wonder what happened next. Did the person who owned the car the owl was perched on come out with their groceries to discover this beautiful bird hanging out on their hood? Did the owl fly away without any problems? Did the owl leave a little present on the hood of this shopper's car that will warrant a run through the car wash?

We may never know.

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