Photos of Owls

[Jim W]

 

I thought I might have a calling as an "owl whisperer".  But apparently owls find my conversations boring:

Great Horned Owl

 

Burrowing Owl

 

Here are some I didn't try to talk to:

Burrowing Owls

 

Barred Owl

 

By the way, if you want to get great views of Burrowing Owls, go to Cape Coral, FL.  They nest all over the place (within the city limits).  Very easy to spot because the locals put up perches for them and there are signs marking the burrows (to protect them).

[Clip]

Yesterday, my husband and I did a bit of birding at a local park where a Hybrid Home School has been conducting classes outdoors for some time now. We were walking along a natural path and accidentally flushed a Barred Owl. I think we woke it up and startled it. Any way I could tell it didn't go far so slowly we went around a tree and relocated it. The first two shots are from that vantage point. I wanted to see the bird from the front plus I wanted to let the kids and teachers near by know what they were looking at as they saw the owl too after we flushed it. After several minutes the kids moved from where they were to directly under the owl. The 3rd shot is of the owl looking down watching the kids watching it. The fourth shot shows the kids below the owl and the owl. It was fun to watch as the owl seemed just as curious about the kids as they were about it. This is the 2nd time I have witnessed an owl being curious. My first experience though the owl was curious not just about people but of dogs as well. The 5th and 6th shots show that Great-horned Owl looking down at dogs playing in a shallow stream below it. Sadly, I did not think to get a photo that included the dogs. All the dogs were too big for it to consider them as food. It was simply entertained watching the clueless dogs below having fun.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Clip

[Chris Clem]

I have shown this photo before (also is my Avatar photo) but wanted to add it here. This one I re-edited it with Sony Imaging which I just stared using. It one of my favorite photos of the year.

 

[Clip]

On the eastern plains of Colorado trees are pretty scarce. Where there are trees they are bunched together near water. These are generally fairly small areas and many birds seek them out so Great-horned Owls in this region will nest or otherwise claim their territory just about anywhere. This photo is a good example of a Great-horned Owl with an injury to it's eye staking it's territorial claim at in a Lowe's Garden Center. 

[Clip]

A better shot of the injured eye.