Here at Designated Writers, we are big on wildlife. We especially like it when it shows up in our back yard. (It keeps the cost of those African safaris waaaay down.)

Having lived 99 percent of my life in Zip Code 71105, it’s not like I’m out in the country, but you’d be surprised what wanders onto the premises. I would say it’s because I live near various bodies of water, but with the conditions we’ve had the last few months, everybody seems to live near a (rising) body of water.

On my commute to work, it’s not uncommon to see the trilogy of animals that failed to make it across East 70th Street — possum, armadillo and raccoon. There is the occasional skunk, but they are listed under Others Receiving Votes.

Until a few years ago, I had an Akita that went 11-0 against the local possum community. You’d have thought that the word would have gotten out among the other possums.

The other night I came home past my bedtime and noticed the silhouette of a bird on the wire behind my house. I knew it wasn’t one of the run-of-the-mill birds that I usually see because it was past their bedtime too.

It wasn’t one of those pitch-black nights, so once I got close enough, I could clearly see who had come by to visit. It was an owl and I was as fascinated by him as he was un-fascinated by me. You talk about a cool bird; this guy had it going on. Here are some owl facts that you might not know — binocular vision, binaural hearing and feathers adapted for silent flight.

So to summarize, owls can see everything, hear everything and fly without making noise. Sign me up!

Plus, owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees, but when I attempted to take a picture, he had the wrong 90 degrees facing me. I couldn’t get into Owl Photography 101 at Louisiana Tech and had settle for some kind of English Lit.

He stayed for awhile to chill and moved on his next hangout. That’s how you roll; — fascinate a human being and move along.