The Hooters in my area are very hard to see, you hear about them all the time but they usually only come out when it is dark and they like to hide behind things. I’m talking about owls here people, get your minds out of the gutter! Specifically, barred owls, which are the most common in my area. They have a very distinctive hoot that is really more of several hoots in a row. Although we think of the owl in wise in literature, they are not very smart birds but rely on instincts. I haven’t been able to get many good pictures of owls, they are kind of my white whale, but I’ve got a few.
As you can see, they blend in with the trees and are very quiet and hard to sneak up on.
It drives me crazy that my friends get better owl pictures or just luck into situations that allow for crazy cool owl pics! My buddy had a baby owl slam into his window and for some dumb reason he took it into his garage to recover.
He recovered and was released back to the wild. This same friend claims he had a pet owl for awhile, I don’t doubt it. He was a researcher on Chicken Herpes for awhile. He also caught this guy digging in his yard for mice under a pile of grass.
and another friend caught this standoff on her deck. Luckily this didn’t end up as a bloodbath!
Have any owl stories or birds you really want to see up close and personal? Hope you have a great Sunday.
My money is on Mr. Owl eating Mr. Squirrel’s lunch–and then eating Mr. Squirrel for lunch.
Before she retired, my mother had a late career as a wildlife biologist who specialized in burrowing owls. Those guys are super interesting.
I briefly worked a field research job, and there was a little group of burrowing owls we would get to pass by and observe a couple times a week. pretty amusing critters
huh….for some reason you saying hooters put this song in my head
i dont know how i got from hooters to jeepers
just put it down to farscy is malfunctioning again
@Loveshaq you take wonderful photos.
These photos are beautiful. The baby owl is damn cute, but look at the size of its feet and talons already!
When I lived in PA I used to do a lot of canoeing. There was one creek where an enormous Great Horned Owl perched on a particular tree. I saw him every time I went past. I always said hello to him, he’d watch as I cruised on by.
I saw an owl as I left my parents’ house last Sunday! Well, it was night time, so I saw some fluffy-winged bird swoop into a nearby tree and then just hang out there, so presumably it was an owl.
Several years ago when the Greater Toronto Area was stuck in a polar vortex, a coworker spotted one of these perched on a light standard during night shift.
This guy has been in the area but haven’t seen him yet
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.king5.com/amp/article/tech/science/environment/snowy-owl-spotted-in-seattle-a-rare-sight/281-26dc5175-22ed-4281-9743-bd7044e2e49f
We get Barred Owls in my neighborhood, and I’ve heard them a couple of times in the past month or so. Their call is very memorable, but it carries so far there is no guarantee you can figure out where they’re perching. Almost every time I’ve seen one it’s because I saw them flying to a perching spot.
I know a guy who was attacked by one while he was out jogging — they can get pretty vicious during mating and nesting season.
We have signs near our house on the hiking trails warning of owl attacks. They can be aggressive.
Nothing is aggressive as a Canada goose though. They’re quite possibly the only rude Canadians.
They will be addressed in a future Bird Droppings!
…some years back a barn owl took up residence in the garden of a friend’s parents’ place & one evening when I was there I got to see it sweep silently across the garden & settle into its perch
…something about the sheer silence of the thing makes it seem oddly like time stands still as you watch them but really the thing moved fast as anything…& it wasn’t evening stooping on some soon-to-be-ex critter…they’re amazing, really
…& I’ve seen a few demonstrations of people flying various trained birds of prey…mostly falcons but one or two owls (although I forget which kinds)
…& the first time I read the book kes I was a kid & it seemed like trying to have a bird & train it would be pretty cool…but it’s never been a realistic proposition for me which is probably a good thing for all concerned…they made a movie of that book though & that’s worth a watch…although both book & film are pretty long in the tooth these days
Same problem here: can hear them often, but almost never see them. The only decent photo I’ve been able to get was the one from our Utah trip a month ago.
I suck at identifying calls, so I’m working on the owls with this:
That is a great video, I’m saving that for future reference
Great photos!
Not to be pedantic but that is not a baby owl, it’s a saw whet owl, full grown it is the size of a robin.
Thanks for the info, I did NOT know we had that type of owl in our area.