I have seen in owl in real life and it has been one featured in this course so far. I have seen a barred owl with my grandfather in my backyard. It was super cool to see one in person as owls are birds that are harder to see than others. The beauty and size of the bird was absolutely amazing to me and it is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

Yes! I've been lucky enough to have several sightings of Snowy owls but not for a couple years. I regularly go out to look for Barred and Great Horned Owls and have been reasonably successful in terms of sightings. The vast majority of the time though, I can only hear them, which is still really cool. We're also fortunate enough to hear a screech owl in our backyard on occasion but only one at a time. I've been able to see the individuals fly only a couple of times!

I regularly see and hear Great Horned Owls and Screech Owls and I have seen a Barn Owl that an acquaintance has in captivity. Its feathers are incredibly striking.

Great picture!

Years ago I saw a great horned owl at the edge of a lake in northern British Columbia. I also once saw a Pygmy owl and last year heard a northern saw whet owl. Short eared owls are abundant here in Juneau, Alaska where I live and I see them regularly at dusk or dawn. I don’t have any pictures to share, sorry!

I live in Parksville on Vancouver Island in BC. I have seen two Barred owls over the past several months in two different locations and a nesting Great Horned owls with chicks. In the late 1970's I lived in Churchill Falls, Labrador and was fortunate to have seen several Snowy owls. On one occasion I shot a Ptarmigan, that was about 50 meters away. Before I could walk through the deep snow to retrieve the Ptarmigan, a Snowy owl swooped down and attempted to grab the dead bird. Fortunately, I was able to recover the Ptarmigan which contained lead shotgun pellets - not a good diet for owls.

Well I've seen 6 species of owls. Snowy, Great Horned, Barred, Short Eared, Long Eared and Saw Whet. I once saw a Saw Whet catch a mouse. That was interesting. Long Eared seem to go through here NS - on migration in December. Christmas Tree fields are a good place to see them hunt. Christmas fields is where the trees are grown - not to be confused with lots where trees are sold. I have not seen any reference to Saw Whets or Long Eared in the course so far.

I have seen two Great Horned Owls and one Barn Owl in the wild. One of the Great Horned Owls and the Barn Owl were seen on different days at my favorite hiking areas as they were sleeping in pine trees. The second Great Horned Owl was seen near my home sleeping in a tree. I haven't seen an owl recently, but I still see white washing and pellets or hear the owls at night.

I have seen a family of Great Horned Owls that nest most years in a park nearby where I live in London Ontario. I have seen the owlets - so cute!! I have heard a Barred Owl a few times, usually at my cottage or when camping. And I've heard a screech owl in a nearby neighbourhood. But I wanted to take this course to learn where I might see owls and learn where to look for them camouflaged in their trees, or where to look to identify their nests.

I’ve been lucky to see Great Horned, Barred, Northern Saw Whet, Snowy, and Short Eared owls in Nova Scotia…always a thrill to see one. Barred are the most common here by far.

We had a successful mating pair of Great Horned owls on our neighbor's property outside Durango, Colorado.  They have been nesting there for the past three years.  It has been fun to watch them grow and mature.  We had several sightings of the juvenal's during the summer months.  The past couple of weeks, we are hearing the owls calling to each other in the early morning and evenings.  I love having these special birds nesting and living right here near our house.

We had the privilege of seeing these two Great Horned owls in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco in the summer of 2021. We saw them several times in the same area, a mother and juvenile. We have returned to the spot more recently, but have not seen more. Also, one evening at dusk we heard Great Horned owls in a wooded area in the Presidio of San Francisco. There was a dialogue going on between two owls in different trees.        

In the wild, I've seen (and heard!) various Eurasian Scops Owl this summer in southern Italy; an Barn Owl flying over my car in Scotland, nearby Loch Ness; and just last night I've (mostly) heard and (barely) seen a couple of Tawny Owls in the woods in northern Italy, where a veterinary working from a local birding group released a Little Owl back to the wild. The latter experience is what prompted me to join this course.

I had a majestic experience with a great grey owl in April 2022, British Columbia, Canada. My friend and I found one at the edge of the forest. The bird flew in close and landed not 10 metres from us on a fence post, surveying the grass, then diving to catch a rodent. It obligingly posed on the post with the rodent in its beak, then soared silently right over my head; I could feel a breeze from its wings. It flew away deep into the forest, probably bringing that rodent to its nest. Magical! My friend got spectacular pictures.

Burrowing Owls - Nesting at the school I work at. There is a pair of burrowing owls which have raised young year after year. (The children at school named them Odysseus and Athena.) Great Horned Owl - I've encountered Great Horned Owls in Arizona and in the North East. One perched on the light post outside my bedroom window, calling to a fellow owl at some distance. It's also possible that I have heard some barn owls in a few rural environments, but did not see them. (This also discounts owls seen at zoos or bird shows)

We moved to a wooded wetland area in Michigan 9yrs ago and had owls as neighbors. I started learning more and made a Barred owl box. After 3 years, finally have renters! Learned how to watch nests through Cornell Lab and have been logging my visits. I’m excited to say I’ve seen a baby barred owl!

Recently found a pair of northern pygmy-owls that I've been hearing around work for a while now. Near Rocky Mountain NP, Colorado. Here's my best photo of the female with a vole for lunch.

  I found today two species of owls in the same park on Bucaramanga, Colombia. Black and whites on top image, spectacled on bottom image. They are not the same picture!  

I absolutely love owls! The most recent sighting I’ve had is of the burrowing owl.

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These nesting Great Horned Owls are just outside my office now.

Saw this barred owl on a neighbor's feeder near Raleigh, NC in Jan 2021. Interesting that the other birds didn't seem fazed by it - it's like they knew it wasn't hunting them, but mice or chipmunks attracted to the seed on the ground. We hear great horned owls and screech owls in the area on a regular basis, but we rarely catch a glimpse of them except sometimes in flight at dusk. The great horned look like flying shoeboxes! :)

Lived in the Northwest Territories for many years where we were lucky enough to see the Great Grey Owl.  Recently living on Vancouver Island we hear frequently the Barred Owl...which we have also seen, as well as the Great Horned Owl.

Snowy Owl by Deadhorse, AK on a birding trip with a guide. We also had screech owls right in the city of Houston

snowy and barred owl