“I didn’t hear a thing, not a whisper,” said Reg Kirkham of the silent thief that took the hat right off his head.
Kirkham had taken his two small dogs out into his backyard on Braun Crescent in Sidney at around 6:30 a.m. Feb. 10. He left the dogs and went around the side of his house to collect some firewood. On his return, he felt a small bump on the back of his head and watched a dark silhouette fade away in front of him.
“Then I saw this owl sitting up in a tree, in the willows, and it had my hat,” said Kirkham, patting his bare head for effect. “I asked for it back, but it didn’t pay any attention to me.”
He went into his house to get a flashlight, but when he pointed the beam into the trees, the thief had disappeared and taken Kirkham’s favourite hat with it.
Kirkham had heard that a woman in the neighbourhood had a similar encounter. “It knocked off her hat and glasses,” he said. “Whether he collects hats, I don’t know.”
“They could be nesting or trying to protect their young,” said Brian Coward, Sidney superintendent of parks. “It’s not uncommon for that to happen.”
Coward said he has not heard of owls approaching people in that neighbourhood previously but is aware it happens in the Horth Hill area of North Saanich. “They’re just trying to discourage you from being in the area,” he said.
The hat thief is thought to be a Barn Owl, typically seen here, though not widely known for approaching humans.
“This guy’s a little frisky,” said Kirkham, who is still on the lookout for his missing hat.