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Several years ago, a friend gifted us with some garden art, an owl. Its head does not rotate. Its wings do not move. It does not scare away birds or squirrels.
It does not scare away butterflies, either.
Last week a monarch fluttered in our pollinator garden and quickly spotted a milkweed that had popped up from seed, just below the owl's permanent perch.
The monarch circled the owl several times, and apparently decided that the owl with the non-rotating head and non-moving wings meant no harm.
She laid eggs on the milkweed, and then returned to lay more. We captured her in flight as the owl "watched."
What a hoot!