“I lift my head in surprise, my heartbeat quickening at this familiar yet uncommon call. Uncommon, at least, in my neighborhood. I’ve been told that dozens of great horns are scattered throughout the city, most often heard–and occasionally seen–in large, wooded areas like Kincaid and Hillside parks.”

This excerpt comes from one of author/adventurer Bill Sherwonit’s essays called “Listening to Owl”. He writes with a clean, spare style of how routines such as taking out the trash at 10 p.m. can let one hear a great owl calling to another owl, or see an aurora in a cold sky.

Sherwonit has just published a new book titled Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness. The book explores the author’s long-running and life-changing relationship with the Central Brooks Range. Sherwonit’s blog has more details about this and his other books.