William

Definitely the different owl sounds!

Recently, I've been fascinated by the analogous behavior of Short-eared owls and one of my other favorites, the Northern harrier. Both are grassland species and compete for the same food (voles and other small rodents). Both are ground nesting birds, and they even employ similar hunting strategies. Depending on the time of day, they will openly compete. I've kleptoparasitism in both birds against each other a few hours before dusk. Harriers even look more like owls than most hawks, as they rely on hearing in addition to their keen eyesight to capture prey that is hidden in thick grasses. So much fun to watch!

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!