Just gifted this class to myself for Pandemic Christmas! Have been learning about birds during COVID. A neighbor has heard an owl. I hope to hear and see one this winter. I live south of Boston.

I live in Baltimore and I have only ever seen one barred owl in our city park. I hope this course will help me be able to spot them when I am on hikes in the surrounding area.

While walking in an walnut orchard near our old house, we saw a Great Horned Owl family - male, female, and one owlet! In our new house, we hear (but have yet to see) Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls, and once saw Western Scrub Jays chase what appeared to be a Barn Owl out of a tree. Love learning more about these fascinating owls, all around the world!

Greetings, I live and work in northeast Indiana adjacent to the Michigan border. I am lucky to have seen native species of owls in person - Barred owls and Screech owls. I have heard Great horned owls.  A Barn owl and a Snowy owl are on the wish list. Working as a county naturalist, I recently salvaged a Long-eared owl that perished after being entangled in a livestock fence.  That was the first time seeing this species but I don't count it since it was deceased.  I am a butterfly nerd at heart but there is absolutely something magical about owls.

I live in southern PA near the Mason-Dixon line.  See owls?  Not so much. But hear owls often, usually a Great Horned or Barred Owl at night from bedroom window.  Love to hear them calling to each other when they are in the neighborhood. Another occasion was at a local environmental education center we stumbled upon a program featuring their ongoing study on saw whet owls.  Happened to see one in the flesh when caught to be banded and released. Lastly, a few years ago, when down on the Delvarva Peninsula was made aware of a snowy owl sighting on the ocean beach in Delaware sitting on the beach.  We were not alone in enjoying this unusual sighting and were joined by a number of birders.  Just fascinating.

I saw this young barred owl in the summertime at a wildlife refuge. This little babe was perched in a tree early in the morning.

No that is why I am taking this course for some tip:) 9th grade Biology we had to learn bird calls and the only one I ever remembered is the Barred Owl so I am hoping to one day see one in real life, this evening I heard what I think was a Great Horned Owl but not 100% on that.

For many weeks during the summer, I kept hearing a loud hooting noise. I originally thought this owl was a Great-Horned Owl because of how loud it was. The more I listened to the sound, I realized it was a barred owl because of its unique "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all call? I was very excited about this because I had always wanted to see another owl since my sighting of a Great-Horned Owl in 2016. One day, I was in my back yard in August at about 6:00 in the evening, and I heard a rusting in a nearby tree. I turned around, and there was a large barred owl staring at me from about 15 feet away. The owl stared at me for about a minute before it flew away into the trees. I never saw or heard the owl again.

While visiting Florida I was birdwatching at a natural area around a retention pond.  I saw a large animal on the ground at the edge of the pond which I was surprised to see was a great horned owl! On a trip the following year to the same area I saw some feathers sticking out of a nest in a small bare tree, blowing in the breeze.  As I came round to the other side I saw the cat-like outline of a great horned owl’s head poking above the nest edge.

I was camping at a park in southern Arizona, walking at dusk, and on a beam overhead saw two Great-horned owls. One, presumably male, was offering a plump rodent to the other. A touching moment. Another memorable sight was at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge where I saw Burrowing owl burrows with the owls standing around beside them close to the road. They didn't seem bothered by the location. They also had burrows in the sides of the irrigation ditches.

Years ago I went down to the small pond on my property to check out what my dog was barking at. It was a Barred owl, wings open, standing in the shallow water. The owl was obviously in distress. I was able to contact a local wildlife rescue organization who came and took the owl back to their facility. Luckily, the owl was not seriously injured and was ready to be set free after just a few weeks of care. However, I learned that protocol for this facility was to release all birds of prey at a large farm about 10 miles away. I would not have thought twice about it except that we had been listening every evening to the injured owls partner call and call and call. It was very sad. Luckily I was able to convince the rescuers to release the owl back on my property (donating 3 days of carpentry labor at their facility really seemed to help!). And even more luck gave me the pleasure of bringing the owl home, setting it free and then listening FOR HOURS to the pair making so much noise! What a celebration. Of course, I’ve been an owl fan ever since.

I signed up for this course because I spotted an Eastern Screech owl in my back yard here in Detroit! I'm curious about owls in general, but intensely interested in finding out what I can do to encourage an owl to move into the owl house we put up a few years ago.

I have lucky enough to see four types of owls - Great Horned, Eastern Screech Owl (red and grey morphs), Saw Whet, and Snowy.  These birds fascinate me.  I dream of seeing a Great Grey some day.

I've seen and heard Great Horned Owls twice in the East Bay, including owl  These were both at dusk . i was lucky enough to see one  on the park behind UCSF.  In Cuba we heard an Cuban pygmy owl duringnthe evening and saw one popping out of the top of  snag during the day.  We were also fortunate to spot a Stygian owl during the day.  Each siting was with a guide.

I live near the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, so I have attended programs to see the birds there and in town. I also got to hold a Tawny Owl named Twilight at the New York State Fair last year.   She was very lightweight and calm.

I saw a Barred Owl in our neighbourhood perched on a tree limb in November in Redmond, WA.

I became a birdwatcher in the spring of 2020. As many of us during the pandemic, I found myself spending more time in my backyard.  An Evening Grosbeak was visiting my yard and I became smitten with birds from that point on.  I was travelling to Kelowna BC for a medical appointment and had some time to burn, I visited Munson Pond right in the middle of the city.  What a wonderful place filled with wildlife and especially birds. I enjoyed watching a Belted Kingfisher fish, a Great Blue Heron having a nap, Ospreys fishing, and  Mallards, Canadian Geese, Wood ducks swimming.  The greatest moment of the weekend came when I was walking around the pond on a path, a kind birder who knew I was a newbie had waited for me to catch up, to point out the Great Horned Owl to me.  It was my happiest birdwatching day ever, I stood in awe of this magnificent bird watching him nap.

Everyone has great photos! I have seen a fair number of owls in the places I've lived and traveled. Most interesting was a Boreal Owl that took up residence on our deck for a few days. It chose to perch on the corner of the deck, and I guess it hunted from that vantage point, because every night it triggered the motion sensor light. The owl wasn't at all bothered by us observing at close range. Then a few summers ago, we had a family of Great Horned Owls hanging out in the neighborhood. They made the rounds of houses in about a 1/4 mile radius every day. The babies could fly, but were still begging meals from the parents, screeching at full lung capacity, a loud rasping screech, while they bowed down perched atop a power pole or a house ridge top. Must have been incredibly loud inside the houses! They used our power pole a number of times to sound off. They did this for a couple of weeks, then disappeared. Fairbanks, Alaska

I live in Southern California, near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. We have many owls here; in fact, one visited this morning at 4:30am. I heard it hooting outside my window, and I heard another owl further away. We have seen an owl (presumably the same one) perched in the evening on a schoolyard baseball backstop. It is huge! We can make out its size, shape and ear tufts (a Great Horned Owl, perhaps) because there is a school gym behind him, which is often illuminated at night.  We are familiar with its call, a kind of hoo (pause) hoo-hoo-hoo. They often show up, sometimes landing on the roof and hooting. We have heard other, more unusual calls as well, with one sounding like well hello! We have seen other owls around at night, and once we saw one that was white (or whitish-faced) up in our palm tree.

Snowy - twice.  First when I was in my 20's and living in East Boston - so close to the Bird Flats where snowy owls are sometimes found.  It was during the day, shortly after my wonderful Nono died.  It was on a bare tree in my backyard and I was on the 2nd floor looking out at it.  It flew right towards me looking at me the entire time and then flew up and out of my sight.  I always felt my Nono sent it to me. Second time was on a wildlife cruise in winter out of Boston Harbor.  We saw one on the rocks right near a runway at Logan Airport. I also saw a Barred Owl in the woods in Townsend Mass while hiking with my husband and dog during the day.  We saw it up in the trees. Finally, I saw one near where I live now - again a Barred - in the trees near my house during the day.  Of course, I hear them at night.  Recently two Great Horned Owls talking to each other across the field behind my house.

I saw a Great Gray Owl and a Boreal Owl at Sax Zim Bog in northern Minnesota, USA. I saw a Burrowing Owl at Santa Cruz Flats in Tucson, Arizona, last winter. They were so darn cute! In 2013-2014, I remember hearing about a Snowy Owl that was seen at the airport here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I wasn't into birding then, so I missed a grand opportunity to see it. Dumb. I've seen Great Horned Owls in Minnesota and Arizona.

Hi! I'm from Chile, here we have 7 species of owls, and I've seen 5 of them: Rufous-legged owl, Peruvian-pigmy Owl, Barn owl, Great horned owl and a Burrowing owl. These creatures amaze me, I love them!

Hello, I live in Canada, close to Banff National Park.  Here I have seen Great Gray regularly, mostly perched on tree branches.  One was apparently juvenile and perched on a very low branch, curiously looking at my friend and me on a hike, showing very little fear.   We stopped and marveled him/her quite a long time.  He did not fly off. I have also seen Great Horned owls in flight twice, on the ground once (he flew down in front of my car, stopped at the intersection!)  and in the tree quite a few times.  The sighting locations vary from here to California.  One in flight came gliding by very close and I did not hear any sound.  It was eerie (in a very magical way), magnificent and outlandishly beautiful.   I think this one has taken a couple of cats in the neighborhood.   We also had one breeding pair in a park, for which the whole neighborhood had an opportunities to observe the pair and two young chicks. One species I have longed to see, but only heard is a spotted owl in Jedediah National Forest Park.  I jumped out of the tent and looked for one, but no luck!  I spoke to the ranger next day and she confirmed it was a spotted owl.... I have heard and seen a barn owl, on a small island of Japan as well.  We were in the retreat and the shriek shocked all us! South Africa offered me opportunities to see quite a few including Pel's Fishing Owl, White-faced owl, Eagle owl and one small owl (I could not identify the species - possibly bared owlet or pearl spotted)- Fishing owl was in Umfolozi Reserve.  I could not locate this owl for the life of me, and when I finally caught him on my binoculars, he was staring into the lens.   The small unidentified owl was definitely a male, as he was hooting incessantly around my tent, to the extent that the ranger started referring him as my owl.   I went to sleep a couple of nights listening to him hoot... That was the best experience of the entire trip.

I had a barn own living in a tree by my house when I lived in Ashland, OR. I saw the owl pellets near the trunk and when I looked up the whorls of branches, I saw this impressive heart shaped owl face looking down at me. Very cool.

I have only seen, a Barn Owl, fly by me, once. On the end of my street. It went onto a branch, and perched, then flew away. I started bird photography, chasing Water-Birds. But now, I want to take more pictures of Owls, and Raptors. They are very hard to find. And harder to photograph. I am jealous of people,  who live in true wilderness. Because in those areas, Owls are more common. And adventure into plain sight. I am in a suburb, but not a 'mountain city,' nor a true 'forest city.' I have had good luck photographing Swans, and Great Blue Herons', and the usual suspects. But no close ups of any Raptors, nor Owls. I will keep trying. I am sure this course will help. -b.k. I like the Screech Owl, because it has a'raw,' and 'natural,' call. -b.k.