The watched watcher

Plein air watercolor on paper entirely painted outside, in the middle of Norwegian autumn, in front of the animal.
While I am struggling on a very wet slope, between rocks, peat and tussocks, I lift up my eyes and see a big owl flying away from me. After looking for this "needle in the haystack" I found it again. A Tawny Owl, one of the most nocturnal species. I slowly back off, set up the telescope and start painting. Suddenly, it turns its head towards the forest, slowly, little by little. It is following something. And here comes a hiker, twenty meters from it in the opposite direction from me. Busy walking he does not notice me and even less the owl. I cannot help but think about my empty-handed yesterday. How many animals watched me pass, them the observers and me the bitten biter! In nature, one has to accept at the end, to be much more often the one watched than the one watching!