An owl feather on my doorstep

I found this right in front of my door this morning. I mean right in front; the bird would have to have flown into my carport in order to deposit it there. As soon as I saw it, I knew intuitively that it was from an owl. An hour or so poring over a feather atlas confirmed that (80% confidence; not sure of the exact species, though; possibly a collared scops).

A shrew has taken up residence under the garden hose in front of our house -- which is a mixed blessing because it kills lots and lots of cockroaches but also leaves poop and cockroach wings everywhere. How it's survived so long with so many cats around is beyond me. We've been trying to get rid of it for a while, but we've also come to think of it as "our" shrew (the taming of the shrew?). The feather was right next to the shrew's base of operations, so if we don't see our soricid friend again, I guess we'll know what brought the owl to our door.