We also have great horned owls in our area.  I live in the mountains of Colorado and we usually have a nesting pair near us.

I have seen a handful of Great Horned Owls and barn owls.  Growing up in rural Missouri it wasn’t uncommon to have one of these large birds spook you at on walks at night.

I live right near a large nature preserve in Alberta, Canada and I often see owls around my home.  Great- horned owls seem to be by far the most common ( there are several breeding pairs that nest within walking distance of my house each spring and I love watching the little ones!).  I have also seen Great Grey Owls, Northern Saw-whet Owls, Long-eared Owls, Boreal Owls, Barred Owls and Snowy Owls in my area as well. The Barred Owls also nest nearby.  I was also fortunate enough to observe some Burrowing Owls out on the grasslands while on a road trip. That was a huge highlight for me - they are so cute and enigmatic.

I've seen and heard Eastern Screech Owls pretty frequently in the city of Rochester NY. I'm going to build a nest box for them, as I've heard them right in my neighborhood in the middle of the city. Have also seen Snowy Owls up by the shore of Lake Ontario, Short-eared Owls in Buckland Park and Nations Road areas, Saw-whet Owls in Braddock Bay Park, and Great-horned Owls and Barred Owls in various places. I also once saw a Hawk Owl over near Medina, NY.  I especially love watching Short-eared Owls flying about silently just before dusk in winter. I hope to see a Barn Owl some day.

I saw a snowy owl while hiking in the dunes out at Race Point in Provinceton, MA in February of this year. Apparently they travel through there or may nest there that time of year and are so beautiful! The only other experiences I have had with owls were studying/banding barn owls in Nantucket, MA and rehabilitating great horned and screech owls while working at the New England Wildlife Center.

When I was little some great horned owls visited a big dead tree behind our house from time to time. We could often hear them calling to other nearby owls. On certain special nights my parents woke us up to see them, and up close through some binoculars. We loved it! They were some very special neighbors :)

I saw a Snowy Owl on Christmas Day in Northwest Indiana in 2017.  It flew alongside our car as we were driving to our family dinner.  I also saw two young Great Horned Owls in a nest in the Indianapolis, Indiana area in the spring of 2021.  These I was able to photograph.

I live in England and the owl that I have seen most often is the Barn Owl.   My house overlooks fields and last summer I had some great views of a barn owl hunting around the field in the twilight for several weeks.   A neighbour told me he knew of a nest nearby, so it must have been feeding young. Interestingly it always went along the edge of the fields where there is rough grass, but never in the middle which was arable crops.  I assume that all the mice and voles live in the rough grass themselves. I have regularly heard tawny owls calling, but never seen them.

We hear Great Horned Owls pretty regularly outside our house in late fall/winter. A few years ago we went outside to try and see them and could see them perched on rooftops on houses in my neighborhood. Occasionally, my kids and I would see them fly to the  to the next rooftop and would try to follow them.  Beautiful!

I have never seen a owl in real life but I have heard a Great Horned Owl when I woke up at night.

My dream is to see a Great Gray Owl. They are somewhere in the Blue Mountains in Oregon but birders keep spots pretty secret. Someday! I've only in recent years finally seen owls: Northern Pygmy Owl at a campsite this fall, plenty of Barn owls flitting by in rural areas, burrowing owls in Colorado and Eastern Oregon, Barred Owls are somewhat common even just hiking around the Portland Metro Area, and several Great Horned Owls at our lovely Ridgefield NWR. Here's a shot of what I think is a juvenile:

I have only seen two owls in my life, both were the Great Horned Owl and in December of two different years, several years apart. The first siting was in December, 2004 during a rare snowfall. The Great Horned Owl was sitting on a branch of a decaying tree along the right of way behind my house, not far from a tributary of the Brazos River. Due to the moonlight and the reflected snow, I could see very well the ear tufts with a chunky built bird. The other siting occurred in a grove of trees across the street from my house. I was out that night photographing my house with its newly strung  Christmas lights, when I heard some rustling of leaves behind me and a neighborhood cat named Midnight went running across the street into my flowerbeds to escape from a Great Horned Owl who was giving chase. It was a close call for Midnight and I saw him around later on in the week. My local HOA has removed both the trees along the right of way and the mixed grove of trees across from my house, so my chances of seeing owls close to my home are remote unless I travel to go "owling", which I may do soon. It is December of the year and a good time to see my friends, the owls.I have no pictures, only memories.

As a kid growing up, we had family friends with a barn owl living on their bookshelf. They found it in their yard as a young owlet ("who threw that cotton wool on our lawn?", was their line) and remained in their house for many years. Apparently it used to leave during the night to go hunting and then return to his bookshelf in the morning. I wish I had paid more attention to it all those years ago, I didn't even realize then how special that was! :)

Great horned owls are common in our area - Platte River Valley in NE We get to hear them call for a partner at night, and can catch a reply most of the time. Have also seen Burrow Owls in our pasture one season. Years ago - Most unusual was seeing a snowy owl in a field during the day in early to late spring.  I always wondered if this sighting was ok, or if it had something wrong.  Only saw it once.

I have seen an owl in real life. It was getting dark and I saw a huge bird that look like it had ear tufts that was sitting on top of a pine tree that was in my backyard. Right away I noticed it was the Great Horned Owl was so fascinating to see since I never seem them unless I hear them at night. I was on school trip for college and we went to a park that kept wildlife that were injured and being taken care of. I noticed they had raptor birds and an Owl that was the Barred Owl.

I was a young girl when I had my first owl sighting. It was a picturesque, snowy, winter day, when a barn owl landed on the top of my wooden swing set, on full display. My grandmother and mother called me quietly over to the window to see. I was completely captivated; it was the most magical thing I'd ever seen, and thus began my love for owls. As an adult, I still remember that moment like it was yesterday but would do anything to travel back in time to experience it once more!

I live in South Jersy and spend many days and nights at the Jersey shore. However,  I have never seen an owl.

Thanks for this course!  We lived several years near Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park and had many chances to see Great Horned Owls.  In the summer of 2013 some chicks were trained just outside our yard.  Sometimes we would wake to find one in the eaves above our front deck.  I grew to love them!  We moved closer to Denver in 2017 and I was treated to my only Snowy Owl sighting in an irruption.  There were birders flocking from all over to see it hanging around Standley Lake just after Christmas.

eastern screech owl, north of Boston, MA, October 2021

My husband, daughter and I were camping in Sebastian, Fl. a few years ago.  As we approached our campsite after fishing... we were surprised by 2 very small owls on a branch above us.. I suspect they were screech owls, yet I never heard them ...   We are living on 2 acres in central Florida.. we do see owls very rarely. I am loving trying to figure out what kind they are. Currently, I believe we have seen a barn owl... it was massive and the mate was nearby as well. I took this course to attempt to encourage them to stay, and to identify more species as we explore in the evenings.

Owls have always eluded me. I kept hearing others talk about their sightings but I never could see one myself. This summer that finally changed when this Barred Owl took off out of some underbrush right next to my daughter (scaring her in the process with its great wingspan). All was good, though, because he posed for photos after…

We live in north Texas and have Eastern Screech Owls that nest in our yard every year. Unfortunately, the male (a red morph) disappeared this past spring- I feel certain the victim of a Great Horned Owl who hunts in our yard. This was the fourth year the pair had made our yard home. The female is a grey morph. We named the pair Chidi and Eleanor after characters in the comedy, The Good Place. After Chidi’s demise last spring, Eleanor quickly found a new mate - another grey morph who was smaller than Chidi. They had only two chicks this season. A small brood compared to some years where there were four. We keep a nest box and it makes a safe place for them to raise their young. Eleanor has a favorite holly shrub she sits in most days - including today October 30th. She’ll hang around until spring and we’ll be eagerly awaiting to see if the replacement mate comes back. The photo is of her last spring trying to tolerate my curiosity and camera. 

We had a pair of great horned owls that hooted by our bedroom window (in Amagansett, NY) at dusk and dawn for years.  In the summer of this year they were continually chased away by crows.  We haven't seen them in a while but I pray they will return.

We live in Orange Beach, AL, and our home is situated along a bay with a marshy back yard area. We have great horned owls in our cul de sac, and they often spend time in our pine treed front yard. For the last few years, they have overtaken an Osprey nest in our neighbor’s pine tree in the back marsh. It’s so exciting to see and hear them all year long, but especially in the winter and early spring when the eggs are in the nest. Once the young owls have hatched, we are glued to the binoculars as we wait to catch a peek at the little ones. The owls have become accustomed to us in our yard as we watch them sitting in our trees, and even after one had just caught a rabbit. I was fortunate one morning when one of the young owls must have ventured out and landed on our back porch near our bird bath. It stayed there until mid afternoon, and it knew I was in the house close by watching it.

Was lucky enough one year to have barred owls nesting in my neighbors' yard. The parents came over to hunt frequently, sometimes coming within 10 feet of us on our back deck. We watched the chicks grow up for 2-3 months until they flew away. Unforgettable experience. I will forever love barred owls.