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.

I got a call from our neighbor that they had spotted a large owl on their dock, we live on the a small lake near Wasilla, Alaska. The minute I saw it I knew it was a Great Gray Owl, an unusual site for this part of Alaska. It was exciting to see one of the largest owls and to get some nice photographs of it!

Great Horned Owl: Everglades National Park - Dec 5, 2016.At dusk. We heard a distinctive hoot from inside some shrubs and small trees near a lookout over the sea of grass that is the Everglades. Looking inside - there it was. Unforgettable. Our first owl seen in the wild. I'd attach the photo but it's very blurry and not at all clear due to the low light conditions. But with the naked eye (and binoculars) it was very clear!

I was in the Nevada desert a few years ago camping. It was dusk and I was walking back to camp on a little animal trail. You could barely see. It was black and white and then looking south I could see something with a long wing span slowly flying towards me then about 10 feet away and about 20 feet above a Barn Owl flaps its wings to stay in one place and went back and forth screeching at me looking at me 3 times and turned in the direction it came and flew off until I could not longer them. I took it as a blessing.

I've seen a Great Horned Owl as a friend and I canoed down a stream - it was broad daylight and we looked up and there it was on a high branch, looking right at us!  It was big and beautiful. When we were opposite the owl, it flew, but right over us!  I also saw a Great Horned Owl mom and an owlet high up in their nest in a large tree on the edge of a small forested area. (This was not by chance - someone had told me where to see this nest.) I saw a Barred Owl high on a branch of a large tree in the afternoon one time, and I saw it because it had made a few calls. That was really cool! And I've seen a family of Eastern Screech Owls with a red morph dad and gray morph mom in a wooded area near where we live. One year they fledged at least 5 babies, and one evening at late dusk we actually looked up in a small tree and saw 2 owlets on one branch and 3 owlets on the opposite branch looking right at us, looking pretty surprised.  We were transfixed just like they were, and everyone seemed frozen! The mom was higher in another tree (she was clearly Not frozen in surprise) and she "told" them to leave and as she flew away they all followed her. They just silently disappeared one by one.  This was a magical moment for sure!!!  I didn't have the camera with me (of course) and it was too dark to get a shot anyway. Doesn't matter, you never forget a sight like that! Thanks for this great course.

I saw what a guide told me was a Mottled Owl in Costa Rica. But it is different than the Mottled Owl featured in this course. Are there a lot of species of Mottled Owls? I wonder which one I saw? Here it is.

I have seen one owl  in real life before. It was an eastern screech owl, and I think they are very cute! It has been featured in this course so far, and the picture was ADORABLE. It was also asleep.

For many years, I had an Eastern Screech Owl occupy backyard birdhouses I originally built for kestrels and flickers. I saw him/her most often in the spring, sunning in the entrance to the house in the late afternoon. I frequently watched until dusk when (s)he departed, always in the same direction. Sometimes I would be awakened very early on a summer morning by a small flock of bluejays harassing the owl - perching on the top of the birdhouse, peeking into the house, screeching, often for an hour or more, and from time to time I would find a little pile of blue feathers below the tree, where clearly the owl had his revenge. Much later in the day, long after the jays had moved on, the owl would have a long nap in his doorway, awaiting sundown.  This little owl seemed to spend many days in other trees around my yard, often camouflaged just a few feet above a well-used sidewalk. We also had a Great Horned owl pair often seen in the tip-top of a tall Ponderosa pine, though one once got stuck amid the tangle of branches in my pear tree. It looked quite awkward and embarassed until it finally freed itself and flew off.

About 12 years ago I was camping in Forestville State Park in south/central Minnesota in late autumn. The park is in what is left of a once large forest but is now surrounded by open farmland. I was walking alone on a wide path surrounded by bare trees (almost a corridor) when just ahead of me was a snowy owl flying straight at me. It seemed like it was staring at me with great intent. I was, and still am, amazed by its wingspan, its yellow eyes, the shape of its face, its speed and grace. It was eye level with me for a just a second or two but I'll never forget it. For years I thought it couldn't be a snowy owl because it was too far south, not quite winter, the sun was shining and we were in the trees. But there's just no other explanation I've found, and to be honest, I don't want to find another explanation. It was a magnificent sight.

This summer a clutch of Northern pygmy owls hatched near our cabin! I went out in the mornings to try to observe them - they seemed to be eating up the entire forest - birds, short-horned lizards, and rodents. I counted six of them at one time. The size of the fly on the owl's head really drives home how tiny these little guys are.

I have seen Barred Owls in the woods in the afternoon here in Pennsylvania. And I almost hit a Barn Owl driving home from work on a rural road in Indiana a few years back. All I saw was pale swerve out of the way of my car.   About had a heart attack.

Well, I’ve heard them, called back and forth with them on night hikes in central and southwest Ohio.  Barred owls I believe.  I have the pleasure of seeing owls at the Glen Helen raptor center in my community. To my recall, I have only seen one in its natural free state while up on Prince Edward Island about 28 years ago.  So, in my book, it high time I see some more owls!

I've seen three owls. The first one was sitting on a fence in Carmel, CA. At the time I didn't know what kind it was. A few years ago a Great Horned Owl sat on the roof of the house across the street, in the SF Bay Area. It was  there for at least 24 hours.   And we had a Western Screech Owl stay in our Flicker bird house for a couple of days, in Central Oregon.

I have only seen a Great horned owl  at a distance, but where I live in central North Carolina is packed with barred owls, although they are hard to find and or see, they are easy to hear, they make a racket in the morning, and I have actually called back and fourth with one multiple times after I learned how to imitate their call. Here are some pictures I got at the Local bog garden

Great horned owl and barred owl. Hear the Great horned owl mostly but now and then I do spot them in the trees. They have their usually roosting places around the lake. One day saw the adult and chick in the tree.

A few kilometres away from where I live are nesting sites of Eurasion eagle-owls (Bubo bubo). It’s nice to see the first flights of their young. I've also seen a group of roosting long-eared owls (Asio otus) in a tree. Location: Western Europe.

Yes! I am enamored with owls.  It started when I put up a screech owl box in my back yard in Dallas, TX and was lucky enough to have a pair of Eastern Screech Owls nest in it for 5 years!  This led me to volunteer at a local raptor center where I got to interact up close and personal with many different owl species - mainly screech owls, barn owls, great horned owls, and barred owls.  But the most amazing experience was when we got a Snowy Owl into our rehab clinic!  Yes, in Dallas, TX during an irruption year.  We were able to nurse it back to health, and it got a plane ride further north to be released in Minnesota.  I have since moved to Oregon and am volunteering at a different wildlife center where we have ambassador Eurasian Eagle owls and a Tawny Owl that I get to interact with.  And I've seen a Great Grey Owl in the wild.

• I was on a nature walk on a course in Toronto and saw a Northern Saw-whet owl in a fir tree.  It was very special and it just looked at us probably wondering why we are so interested in it.  It just sat there staring with its lovely eyes looking wise.  I think it was sleeping and we most likely woke it up.  It was well hidden in the fir tree of a side path and it felt safe.  It was so still it was amazing.  I love seeing owls especially in the city.  It is such a sweet small owl with its brownish colors and white underneath the brown