I saw a Great Horned Owl when I was a volunteer working at a monarch reserve.

I have loved owls for as long as I can remember. I have seen one Great Horned Owl in the wild, and some in my time as a volunteer at my local wildlife rehabilitation center in Texas. I will never forget how incredible it was to see an educational Snowy when I lived in Vermont, at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science.

Western Screech-Owls actually sparked my interest in birds! Last summer, I found an abandoned Western Screech-Owl baby on my front lawn. I took it to a local wildlife center, where they gave me a patient number for the bird, and I kept checking in on it by phone until it was released back into the wild! Another owl I've seen in person is the Great Horned Owl. A family of them had a nest in my neighborhood, and I've attached some photos of them!

I have seen a Great Horned Owl but not in the wild.  Athena lived at our Museum of Science and History along with assorted mammals and reptiles native to Texas.  She was a magnificent bird that had probably been rescued.  That was 35 years ago so I don't remember her story.  Athena did inspire me as a docent to present a "cart" talk on owls.  Too bad I didn't have this course when I was doing my research!  At least one of the docents did take Athena to the lobby where we made our presentations.  I never did.

I have seen a Snowy Owl once, and a very small Owl. I am not sure which one it was. A few years ago I was visiting friends in the country, and we sat around an outdoor firepit. Some species of Owl was quite verbal and would fly near us and land in a branch. It was too dark to determine what it was, but it would fly a little ways away and return always making this sound that actually was very scary. We eventually went inside thinking maybe it had a nest near by and we were considered intruders. Funny how sounds like that are so much more frightening in the dark.

I live in central Kansas.  For several days a couple summers ago, a barred owl visited the willow tree in my back yard.  He appeared to be picking off the cicada carcasses left behind on the bark and occasionally appeared to be eating insects off the ground.  I was able to water plants on the patio while he sat on the lawn under the tree watching me.  We had a one-way very softly spoken conversation. The tree was severely damaged in a windstorm later that summer and a significant part of it had to be cut away.  That seemed to totally spook him, and he didn't return.  So sad. I also had the good fortune to see a snowy owl on a utility wire very early one morning on my way to work.  Incredible.  I wasn't sure it was real, but I did some research and discovered there had been other sightings in the area.

I caught fleeting glimpses of owls when living in rural southwest France and savoured their magical, eery night-time calling. I'm thrilled to be learning more about them.

My first meeting and what sparked my fascination with these elusive birds happened at the age of ten. My Dad called me out to the edge of our farm home lawn. We ever so slowly and quietly peeked through the low branches of a young tree to see a sleepy Saw Whet. Magical moment. Decades later now, in the darkness of night a huge owl stood right on our front deck just 8 feet from our front door. Since I have an admiration of the Great Grey owl I hoped this would be one, even though I live on the edge of their territory. I estimated that he stood about 2 feet tall. My presence scared him off a little but I guess his curiosity caused him to stop to have a good look at me. With the dim light on our deck I could see his black eyes and realized he was a Barred owl. Amazing to be so close to such a beautiful creature. Often I hear the Barred owls and Hawk owls here. Thrilling.

I had an owl land in a tree near my house and stay there for an hour or two. It didn't leave!!!

I have not seen an owl. My father has seen barn owls which have been featured in this course. Some time ago he saw one at 5 a. m. which was a barn owl( I was not there). Some weeks ago my family heard a hooting. I do not know the owl but I hope to see one in real life.

When I was camping with my parents and one time I was at work I saw Barred owls.

My husband and I had a regular nesting pair of Eastern Screech owls in a tree near the house, for many years. While home recovering from and injury from April until July I was able to observe daily activity. One morning I saw an unattended owlet perched on the back of a deck chair, it eventually hopped off and proceeded to walk and hop to the tree line east of our house that separates us from a small wetland area. I was so concerned I was checking all morning until I heard a noise above me and there was the parent staring at me with those intense eyes as if to say "go home lady I got this."  We have since lost the huge branch that they used and no longer have this amazing event.

I think I saw a Great Horned owl several years ago when I was living in southern Maryland, but it was dusk, and it was kind of far into the woods.  I couldn't be sure.  Years later - I now belong to a Birding Club, and the lifelong birders running the group are teaching us a lot.

I’m lucky enough to have two nesting pairs of barn owls that live within a couple blocks of my house in an urban area in Sacramento, CA. I always look for them at night, but sometimes I’m lucky enough to catch a glimpse in the daytime! It always spits it’s pellet out around the same time every morning.

I've seen a spotted owl when visiting my cousins.

In 2018 in Battle Ground, WA while walking in a wooded area behind my house I viewed a very large, tall, owl in the top of the trees looking down on me.  It was early evening and there was a bird nest in a tree close to the ground which had an egg in it.  The mother was upset I was so close and made quite a ruckus which caused the owl to be agitated as well and finally flew off.  Quite exciting for an evening walk.  I believe it could have been the Great Grey Owl.  I remember being impressed by it's size.

I had never seen an owl in real life until about two weeks ago. I was out for my daily evening walk when something flew across the road directly in front of me.  It looked a bit too large to be a bird, plus it was dark.  Very carefully, I approached the tree where I thought it might have landed and sure enough, it was a small owl (front facing eyes, ear tufts, about 7 inches tall). Could it have been an Eastern Screech?  I was thrilled!!  Wish I’d had my binoculars with me.

I was at a cottage in Healey Lake, Ontario, Canada and I saw an Eastern Screech Owl. I also heard one when I was at the Maitland, a river in Ontario. I couldn't get a clear photo of either because the first was during sunrise and it was shadowed, and I never saw the second.

A Snowy Owl in March11, 2021 at Finger Lakes Regional Airport in Seneca Falls, NY. Photo by Cindy Massicci, Ithaca, NY  

I have never seen an owl in the wild.  I live in New York City - and there is/was a Snowy Owl in Central Park this winter (Jan 2021).  There was tremendous fuss over it - which is ignored - now i am sort of eager to go see this Snowy Owl now that i realize how special this occasion is.

This winter has been a great one for owls around Montreal. Since January 1st, I managed to see all the species that can be find around here. Snowy owls are regular around here in winter. The Great gray owl has be seen twice this year (one for me) which happens one out of four years or so. I saw also two Northern Hawk Owl (rare), one Boreal Owl (rare), one Northern Saw-whet Owl and one Long-eared Owl (regular but unfrequent), 8 Short-eared Owl (abundant this year) and the residents: Eastern-Screech, Barred and Great-horned Owls. A very good winter!

I have been lucky to see Short-eared Owls hunting/flying low over a meadow at dusk ... an Eastern Screech Owl nesting ... Great Horned owls twice, once nesting ... and another time, a family group of 2 adults and a fledgling near a nest ... and quite a few Barred Owls, which seem to be fairly prevalent in the mid-Atlantic where I live.

I was able to visit a Raptor Wildlife Rehabilitation Center back in November 2020. I do wildlife photography on the side so getting to see these owls who were in situations where they were unable to released back in the wild was really inspiring. Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, and the Eastern Screech Owl red morph. In the wild, I saw my first Great Horned Owl nest in May 2020 which was so special, but I've seen/heard them a couple times around dusk. In December 2020 I saw my first Short-eared Owl. Three were hanging around the local airport and they were so stunning to see! My first owl sighting ever was actually on accident! I was on a drive by the beach in July and there happened to be a male snowy owl on chimney. I thought it was fake until I saw all the birders around and it turned its head and looked at me! 2014, and it really helped me get into photography. This past January I was able to see one Snowy owl a few times and she has such a happy almost comical looking face. However, in early January, I had stopped for a red-tailed hawk who was eating a small rodent on a pole. Out of nowhere this Snowy Owl flies in and steals it. Swallows it whole! What she didn't realize, is that there was a pair of red-tailed hawks. They started diving in an attempt to get it away and no one else was around! Just my mom and I and I have to say it was so amazing and shocking because it was within 50 ft of where I stood! I couldn't ask for a more special moment and I'll treasure it always.

The first night we spent in our new house, my husband heard the hooting of an owl.  We turned out the lights and looked out the bedroom window to see the silhouette of 2 great horned owls on the branch outside our window.  We never saw them again.  It was a lovely welcome to the new neighborhood. Another dramatic sighting occurred as we sat on our porch on a summer evening, waiting to watch a lunar eclipse.  As the sky held onto the last of the day light, an owl came and perched at the very top of one of the pine trees in our yard.  An owl and a lunar eclipse in one night!  Such an event inspires the search for meaning.  I settled on simply acknowledging that the universe is filled with awesome wonders and we are fortunate to be a part of it.