We had an Eastern Screech Owl living on our unfinished porch last spring.  When we discovered it we decided we needed to build an alternative home for it because we planned to finish the porch.  We built two different homes and it moved into one of them (assuming it’s the same owl).  Here’s a photo from last spring, i don’t know who was more surprised, me or him.  Now I get to watch it most days when it perches at the opening of its new home.

I haven't

I have seen two owls, other than the unnamed and mostly unseen owls that fly over our cars at night.  I was sitting on my couch one night and heard a horrible rack in the wall beside me where the chimney for the furnace was. Going down into my basement, I found an owl sitting on my washing machine.  I turned on the light by my back door and it eventually came up and sat on the fusebox, so I was able to open the door and let it out.  It was more than 30 years ago, so I am not totally sure what kind it was, something medium sized like a screech owl or barred owl.  An owl also fell down my grandmother's chimney into her fireplace.  It was a similar type of owl.

I have seen a couple Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls in the Sacramento Valley of California. This was the first winter I learned the calls of the Great Horned Owls and got to hear a few different pairs duet at a local refuge. I have also realized there is a pair near my house and can hear them at night when it’s quiet which is awesome!

I have had the opportunity to observe Barred Owls in my backyard in Maine, as well as a pair of Snowy Owls in New Hampshire approximately seven years ago.   Their presence attracted significant attention, resulting in a traffic backup along Route One near the ocean, where they remained for several weeks. The latest observation of a Barred Owl revealed it being persistently harassed by a group of crows. The owl remained calm and composed as the crows swooped down in a series of dive-bombing attempts before retreating. The crows were characteristically loud and disruptive during the encounter.

I'm fortunate to live near barn owls and great horned owls. I once named a pair of juvenile great horned owls "Squeak and Squoink" because those were the noises they made, back and forth, every night for awhile! I wouldn't have believed that Squoink was an owl, had I not seen it make the noise right outside my window one morning!

I have seen several owls in my life, mostly eastern screech owls. Once, I went to an event at a state park where I got to watch saw-whet owls get banded, and when they were releasing them, I even got to have one sit on my arm while it got adjusted to the dark. Once, my mom and I heard an owl near our home, and a bird identification app (Merlin) told us that it was a great horned owl! We searched and searched for it, and eventually saw it perched near the top of a conifer by our neighbor's house, silhouetted against the night sky. It was huge! We wanted to keep watching it and see if it ever really moved that much, but since it was a freezing winter night, we got too cold and had to go back inside.

My first encounter with an owl was in a park near my parent's house that I walked through with my dog on a regular basis, probably around 1998. One morning when I was in the thickset part of the woods walking along the river I heard crows and suddenly there was a Great Horned owl being mobbed in the early morning light. It was an incredible sight and one I will never forget. The silent flight of the owl and the harsh sounds of crows following it. Amazing to be in the right place at the right time!

I remember being around seven years old when I first saw a wild owl. I was taking a tour of the San Luis Valley in Colorado, and the tour bus stopped right beside a female Great Horned Owl, who was perched on one of the branches. Several years later, I was hiking through the Crow's Nest Nature Preserve in Fredericksburg Virginia when I saw a barred owl sitting silently in the canopy. My most recent encounter was spotting a colony of burrowing owls scurrying around the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. Each time was a very special experience, and I hope to see more owls in the years to come.

The first owl I ever encountered was the great horned owl near the Matanuska glacier in Alaska- it lived in a wooded area near a well known small restaurant and I’d drive there just in the hope of spotting it. Since then, I’ve been lucky to see a barred owl, a barn owl that perched and called at night near my bedroom, a screech owl, and a scops owl in Zambia, a master of disguise.

I believe I've seen the silhouette of a barred owl one once or twice before, I would hear them with some regularity in the summer as well. My brother was taking the trash out one day in Indiana when he encountered one sitting on the opposite trash can, by the time my dad and I got out there it had already flown away but my guess is it was a great horned owl.

I got out of the car one night at our cabin in Henderson NY on Lake Ontario and an owl was sitting on a short trellis a few steps from me, so that his talons were at about eye level with me and he didn't fly away for several long seconds and just looked at me.  It was astonishing.  I can't be sure of my identification but I believe it was a barred owl and he left behind a feather that I saved.  Luckily I'm not superstitious and nothing untoward happened in the interim! I think that started my interest in taking this course.

I have seen nine owls in the wild:

• Northern Saw-whet Owl
• Burrowing Owl
• Snowy Owl
• Short-eared Owl
• American Barn Owl
• Northern Pygmy-Owl
• Western Screech-Owl
• Long-eared Owl
• Great Horned Owl

Here is a photograph of a Western Screech-Owl I took:

I don't believe I have ever actually seen an owl, but I have definitely heard them out my window at night.  A few years ago, a snowy owl was in my neighborhood for a little bit but I never got the chance to see it.  I will be sure to jump on that opportunity if one ever comes back now that I know how cool they are!

I’ve heard barred owls in our Northwest yard and seen them with young at a nearby nature reserve. They can be pretty aggressive. One dive-bombed my son when he was out jogging one evening. Other owls I’ve been fortunate enough to see are barn owl, short-eared owl, long-eared owl, great horned owl, and western screech owl.  I saw burrowing owls while birding with my folks in Tucson. They’re adorable! As the video mentioned, snowy owls come south every so often, and it’s so exciting when they do! Since we don’t get much snow here, they’re easy to spot.

I have had the opportunity to observe owls in captivity at the John James Audubon Center in Audubon, PA. There, I encountered a Great Horned Owl, a barred owl, and three Eastern Screech Owls (two reddish-brown and one gray).   Additionally, I have identified two Great Horned Owls communicating in my own backyard during the early hours, around 3:00 AM. This area, with its golf course and farmland, offers a unique habitat for these majestic birds. It is truly encouraging to know that the Audubon Society is providing care for these rescued owls and that they serve as Bird Ambassadors, helping the community learn more about these fascinating creatures.

I may have seen an owl not in an animal sanctuary, but my closest encounter was that I heard one, right outside my house as it was getting dark.  I went out to see it but the area has multiple large trees and I could not see it, though it sounded very close.  A few days later I found a skeleton of a rabbit in that area of my yard and I suspect he was hunting or had just caught the rabbit.  The call was something like hoot hoot hoo.  I listened to different owl calls but I couldn't quite figure out which one it was.

I see Barred Owls on a pretty regular basis around my studio. When it was being built 7 years ago the workman would often find it perched on the roof beams, several times leaving owl pellets. The Barred is clearly my studio’s familiar. Within the past month I have had him/her fly right in front of me, landing in a tree then watching me. A great Horned Owl also visits my studio.  He will visit in the fall hooting around dusk. This picture was taken October 5 at 1:30 pm. I live in northern Michigan on 27 wooded acres

I have seen: Great Horned Owl (Guyana) ,Spectacled Owl (Guyana),Black Banded Owl (Guyana), Burrowing Owl (Guyana), Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (Guyana) and Snowy Owl (Manitoba, Canada)

Yes. We have seen snowy owls in Winnipeg.   We also had what we thought was a screech owl in a bird house in Winnipeg.   We were able to participate in an owl banding project at Scanlon Creek near Bradford, Ontario many years ago.   The biologist was catching Northern Saw-whet owls.

I've seen a trio of juvenile Barred owls while camping.  I've seen two juvenile Barred owls in the tree outside my bedroom window.  In both instances they were having a good time calling back and forth to each other.  They also didn't seem to care when I shined my flashlight on them to watch them.  They didn't really seem to care how close I came to them either.  The pair outside my window hung out for about 3 nights then they left.  It was awesome to see them so close up.

Yes!  It was one of the most exciting sightings I’ve ever had.  I caught a glimpse of a Snowy Owl as I was driving through open farmland.  I was so surprised that I nearly drove into the ditch.   I’m in Northern California and we just don’t expect to see them here.  It was February 2017 and a particularly cold, wet winter.  It must have been following its food sources.   I was very appreciative that it waited just long enough for me to snap it’s picture.  As I’d drive in that area daily, I watched for it for days and weeks later but never saw it  again.   This was near Delevan, Colusa County, California.

I have seen Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls in zoos, but sadly I have never seen one in the wild. I have always wanted to! I hope this course will give me some tips for seeing an owl out in the wild.

I believe I heard 2 northern pygmy owls while running this morning.  I am looking forward to going out for a walk to see if I can spot them.