For several years we had a pair of Barred Owls nesting in an old tree cavity near my home. It was wonderful seeing the fluffy owlets each year poke their heads out of the hole. Unfortunately they stopped returning after a territorial fight with some red shoulder hawks.
Ahhh, a few years back I was visiting my mom up in Essex MA and when I arrived I begged her to take a ride up to Plum Island with me to see if we could find a snowy owl! We only had 1 hour before nightfall and we were successful! Such a wonderful sight!