The first owl I saw in real life was a Barred Owl. I was birding in a park favorited by joggers and trail runners. Two joggers went past me early in the morning then from behind I heard a scream. I turned to see a barred owl flying up from the head of one of the joggers as they continued on. I had to move a bit to get the owl in my binoculars at which point it swooped at me as well. As cool as it was to see it in flight, and head on, when I realized it was coming in for the attack I was quite scared. I managed to get a picture after that and was swooped two more times in the process. At that point I realized that this was one angry owl and decided it was best that I high tail it out of there!

We have heard Barred Owls near our home in southern Maine for years. Last year we were fortunate to see both an adult and two juveniles.

We were having trees trimmed in our back yard and we discovered a Western Screech Owl (I think) hiding among the foliage, he/she was almost invisible.  Unfortunately, we never saw him again.  I guess there was too much human activity.  We now have an Owl box, hoping it will lure the owl back.

How lucky was I that a snowy owl visited our town near Burlington, VT for about two weeks this past December.

I went on a guided owl trip to Amherst Island just outside of Kingston, Ontario some years ago.  The group were able to go into a very thick grove of pine trees, one at a time, so as not to disturb the owl which was roosting there, a long-eared owl.  On the same trip we saw a saw-whet owl.   There is a great place to bird watch in Ottawa, where there have been Great-horned owls nesting in some years, but sadly, once the location of such a nest is publicized, trouble follows.  I was lucky enough to see some of these owls, but in the second year of nesting, vandals killed them. That was a difficult lesson for birders in our area to learn and when screech owls nested there in subsequent years, more care was taken to keep the whereabouts of the roosting and nesting sites out of the news.  Even fellow birders were not encouraged to have a look.

Yes!  I saw a Barn Owl at the Red Rock State Park  (CA) CBC This year.  It was roosting in a dense stand of tamarisk trees. We listen for Great horned Owls out our bedroom window when its warm enough to crack the window.

I don't have a picture for obvious reasons because I would hear this owl very early in dark mornings when taking my dog outside.  I am fairly certain it was a Great Horned Owl by the sound of its call.  Nothing is more beautiful than being in a fairly wooded area in the quiet of pre-dawn and hearing the haunting call of that owl.  I now know it was a Great Horned because of the information from this course.  Mary Ann Flannery

Yes.  I came home mid-day one day and there was a Barred Owl in the Red Pine tree in front of my house.  I took a picture of it and sent it to the local TV station, which was featuring pictures send in by viewers.  They used it!  The owl hung around for a while and then ambled off.

I live in Northeast Massachusetts and regularly hear a Great Horned Owl at night time or early in the morning when it's still dark. In addition, I have seen on eBird regular sightings of a Barred Owl at a nearby lake / park area but have not seen that particular owl myself. This lesson did a great job covering Snowy Owls specifically. There is a very well-known wildlife refuge in Newbury, MA called Parker River NWR that I visit regularly on weekends, typically at least once a month. Earlier this January, I had the pleasure of seeing three different Snowy Owls in a group trip through my state's Audubon society. One of them in particular was a very good view on the ground, and even at one point the Snowy Owl was buzzed by a Northern Harrier! This year there have been many Snowy Owl sightings there, and as a relatively new birder I feel very fortunate to have been able to observe a Snowy Owl there. I hope that when I visit there again very soon I am able to see a Snowy Owl (among the many other amazing birds)!

We live in an area that we see bard owls on a regular basis. We live in a shallow valley in Ballwin, Missouri. The area left established woods and got the nickname Owl Hollow. I have had encounters where the owl is flying over my car when coming home. (Had the moon roof open and he flew low and right over top of the car for a distance). We see families beginning to learn to fly every summer. I Willis love to be able to observe more of were they are living and see the babies as puff balls. They have flown so close while walking my dog that they almost touched my head. (And my dog is a lab so they aren’t going after her). owls fascinate me and I do believe there are more species in the woods. I just don’t know where to look.

I managed to see a bunch of owls this year! All at Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto. Close to where I live. At the start of the pandemic in March I stumbled across a Long Eared Owl in a tree, a snowy perched in a Great Crested Cormorant nest and another blending in with some cement rubble on a peninsula. In November I saw a Barred owl roosting in a tree and a female Snowy on a white branch stalking some Pipits. And One day in December in stumbled upon a Roosting Great Horned and a roosting Northern Saw Whet about 4 meters from each other. I got a quick picture of the Saw whet and quietly backed away onto another trail and literally 15 minutes later I walked by a Juvenile Snowy (maybe 1 year). 

Was lucky to see a Snowy hunt the fields near our house one winter as a kid.  Spotted a Barred at my patch in central IL this week (25+ very angry crows led me right to it).  There's a Great Horned in the area too, but I've only heard it. 

I have had the great good fortune of seeing up close and personal - the Snowy,  the Great Horned, Barn and Saw whet and Barred. Each an amazing precious experience.

I don't understand how to move through the 14 exceptional birds EXCEPT to click on each link in the list beneath the photo. You seem to suggest  there are to be 14 images (1 of 14) - focused on some exceptional characteristic BUT there is no way to scroll through 14 images EXCEPT as stated above to click on each link. Are we supposed to deduce what makes each bird exceptional based on our readings in eBird and/or All About Birds? Is this REPLY TO BIRD ACADEMY the way  I enter the discussion ?? Where might I expect to receive a REPLY FYI my email is brandon.dolores@gmail.com

I almost cried when I saw this beautiful Snowy  Owl.  It was sitting on the spillway near a very large lake.  I definitely kept my distance.  (someone said lots of people were getting much closer and she didn't seem to mind - but I wanted to stay back - I was just in such awe of seeing something so magnificent).  It was about 20 degrees on the day I saw her - but for the time I stood outside looking at her - I never once thought about how cold it was!   

I've only seen two owls in the wild. The first was a Great Horned Owl I saw at the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Woodbridge, VA in the autumn of 2014. It was in the morning. I spotted a large number of crows who were plainly "mobbing" something so I went to see what it was. I was able to get several good photos before the crows chased it deeper into the woods. In the winter of 2014-2015 our area had an irruption of Snowy Owls and I saw one of them who was perching regularly during the day in a local backyard. I was able to see this via a friend of the homeowner but I was sworn to secrecy regarding the specific location to prevent a mob of people from showing up.

Yes.  I was very surprised to see what I believe was a barred owl sitting on a branch outside my living room window along the Schoharie Creek in upstate New York.

Yes, I have seen a spotted owl while camping in the Sierra Mountains and a great horned owl in a coniferous forest flying under a moon lit sky.

Yes! Was so joyfully surprised last Fall to come around a curve on a back-wood dirt road and see a Barred Owl snoozing in a tree near the road. I hear them in the timber surrounding my house at night in all seasons - have only seen this one time.

I have seen quite a few owls because I am retired and have been fortunate to be able to travel to several other countries to see birds.  (Back when one could travel -- this is early 2021!)  We once saw a Spectacled Owl in Panama and I got the first photo below.  I don' t recall realizing this at the time, but I must have been looking at the owl's back.  I just learned from this course that the front is buffy and un-streaked!  Owls are tricky with their ability to turn their heads so far. Speaking of their heads, I also took the second picture, in Mexico, of the back of a Pygmy Owl's head -- showing the false eyes. In this case I was looking at the front of the bird and seeing the back of the head!   (I think this is a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, but in the place where I saw it it could have been one of a couple of species.) And lastly, here is another picture of the same Pygmy Owl.

I was lucky enough to see many snowy owls in the winter of 2013-14 just north of the US  Canada border on Boundary Bay.

I snapped these breeding season urban and suburban Great Horned and Barred Owls in Albuquerque and northern Virginia, respectively.

Unfortunately I’ve only seen Oakley, the great horned owl at the Cayuga Nature Center.

Great Horned Owls are numerous in our woods. This one in March 2020 was perched at sunset quietly hooting