The Wonderful World of Owls

Here is my most recent Owl sighting.. Great-horned Owl Sun City West, Desert Springs Golf Course Wednesday. January 4, 2023

No. I really really really want to see one!!!!

My wife and I along with two friends were visiting the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Preserve near Lawton, OK, several years ago. The WMWP is a beautiful area of open prairie, old mountains, buffalo, prairie dogs (and burrowing owls, of course) and longhorn cattle. While driving about 30 mph along a straight section of road in the Preserve, we noticed that a large owl (species unknown) was flying and keeping pace with us as we moved along. It was as if he was racing us. This went on for a mile or so. It was a beautiful day and a nice memory!

I saw an Ashy-faced Owl in the Dominican republic. This was a wonderful experience as this bird is rare and endemic to Hispaniola. I love its blue coloured face. https://ebird.org/checklist/S97721191

Once.  Working in the woods a long time ago.  A coworker spotted a large owl midflight and pointed it out.  Definetly an owl, as we could see the flat face in profile. Still searching for the next owl.

I volunteered and worked at an aviary where the raptors couldn’t return to the wild and was able to help care for Barred Owls, Barn Owls, Eastern-Screech Owls, and Great Horned Owls. I also had a Barred Owl that would hang out in my back yard a lot.

We have a resident Barred Owl who seems to play a game of "Where's Waldo" from time to time as I walk my dogs in the evening. The best place I have spotted "Waldo"  was on a speed limit sign within our neighborhood. I quickly snapped a picture of him before he flew off to catch a speeding mouse. :)

I've seen a couple on guided hikes but was hoping to be able to see them on my own. I envy people who have that knack for spotting them.

Have seen a couple of Horned Owls from afar really early one morning a while back. Have heard owls mostly when hiking through the woods or at night. I do currently volunteer at a State Park that has an aviary of various owls, falcons and hawks. These are raptors that have been injured and can no longer be free. They are well cared for and are taken to various outreach educational events. I get to clean their mews, feed and water them. We have a barred owl, 2 great horned owls, barn owl, and an eastern screech owl. They are so beautiful I love being up close to them. They have the most gorgeous expressive faces and I am honored to be able to care for them.

My husband and I saw a Barred Owl in Red Rocks Park, in Burlington Vermont a couple of weeks ago. We were out walking in the late afternoon in the woods. It flew onto a tree branch near the canopy top and stared at us for awhile. He seemed to be saying “who are you looking at”? We were surprised to see it in broad daylight. What a treat!

Yesterday (11/14)this Barred Owl stayed in my yard all day! A group of crows harassed him/her, jays screamed, even a Cooper's Hawk showed up, but he seemed unimpressed. After he had been there for some time, Am. Goldfinches, House Finches, and Eurasian Tree Sparrows returned. St. Louis Co. MO

I started birding this year, in Maryland. My two goals were to see a Baltimore Oriole and an owl. I saw a barred owl while on a guided birdwalk at a local park in October! My new goal is to try and see one on my own - hoping this course will help!

I was at a bird sanctuary near St Louis and got to see a demonstration with a barn owl.  It was a gorgeous bird and I was able to get some really nice photos.  The sanctuary had a wonderful variety of birds, but the barn owl was my favorite. At home I often hear the great horned owls, but haven’t gotten to see one.

This incident did not happen to me, but was recently reported in our local media. A homeowner in an upscale suburb of Victoria B.C. called police around 4 a.m. to report an intruder in their home.  When the police arrived, they located the suspect, a Barred Owl, perched on a couch.  After some coaxing, the "suspect" exited without further incident, through open patio doors. Although Barred Owls are a recent arrival to southwestern B.C. (around 1970), they are now a common resident in the area.  I have often seen them perched in trees during daylight hours, although they are mostly nocturnal.

a few years back I was lucky to see a barred owl that was hanging out in central park in new york city which definitely awakened my love for the birds. I've also encountered a few great horned owls around california, this August I woke up to a GHO hoo-ing in pebble beach and saw one perched outside my apartment in los angeles that same night! it felt like it was following me down the coast :-)

Hi! I have seen Barn Owls, Short Eared Owls, Burrowing Owls, Great Horned Owls, Spotted Owls, Screech Owls and Snowy Owl. I have heard Barred Owls, and Flammulated Owls. These sightings were in  California, Oregon, Washington, and Utah.

Barn owl in Illinois Will County

Luckily I've seen 8 species of owls so far (9 if you consider Magellanic Horned Owl separate from Great Horned Owl), and I would like to share one of my favourite pics I've taken. This is a Magellanic Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus magellanicus), from the Strobel Lake plateau in Patagonia, Argentina. It was a family of three individuals that lived in a lagoon that we visited to make a census of aquatic birds. There's no doubt that this was the most incredible thing we spotted!

Yes.  I have seen and/or heard:  Great Horned Owls, Great Gray Owl,  Barn Owls, Western & Eastern Screech Owls, Spotted Owl, Barred Owl, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Flammulated Owl and Burrowing Owls, all in the wild.  I have seen other owls in captivity only.  I did see a Sparx Owl, a hybrid between a Spotted Owl and a Barred Owl that was in captivity at Humboldt State University. I hear Great Horned Owls pretty frequently, and sometimes (some years) I have heard Western Screech Owls pretty frequently.  I usually hear a Barn Owl a couple times per year. I have built bird boxes for Western Screech Owls and Flammulated Owls.  I have had Screech Owls use several of my boxes and also nest in my attic. I helped relocate a Spotted Owl and reband it.  My grandkids got to select the bands, and handle the owl.  I have also held out a stick with a mouse on it for a Spotted Owl to come down and take it for food!

In Thailand I have seen the Asian Barred Owlet, sitting exposed on a bare branch in daylight.  I have also seen a Brown Boobook during a night ‘safari’. It was sitting on a wire that spanned across the path we were taking.

I had the good fortune of working in the Canadian High Arctic doing archaeological research on Ellesmere Island for several field seasons. Snowy owls often nested in the area, so we saw them fairly often over the years. They are magnificent!

I saw a nest of baby owls in a barrel floating on the Choptank River in Trappe, Maryland. I don’t know what kind of owl they were, there were about six of them, they were about 8 inches tall and they looked 1,000 years old.

I was fortunate enough to see snowy owls near Churchill Manitoba while out on the tundra doing climate change research. They were much larger than I expected. They were gorgeous while in flight. I also spotted two Cuban pygmy owls while in Cuba. This was exciting because they are found nowhere else on Earth!

I live in Seattle where barred owls are common.  I've had them in my yard!  We also are lucky enough to get snowy owls from time to time.

I've unfortunately never seen a wild owl. But, I have seen some kept as ambassadors and as rescues at my local animal sanctuaries. Those were mainly Barred, Great Horned, and Barn owls. One December I did hear some Great Horneds hooting a ways off which has been the closest I've ever (knowingly) gotten to a wild owl. While the captive birds were just as lovely, there's something breathtaking about seeing a more mysterious/rare animal out in nature.