Cynthia

Beautiful photo of a beautiful owl!

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.