To any birdwatchers here: Owls--Is it difficult, if not impossible to spot them?

[Buckocaster51]

Put on your mouse costume.

Look helpless and far away from any sort of shelter.



I have seen owls fly, but can't recall seeing one perched anywhere.

They live in the shadows of my world.

Sort of like the Nazgûl and the bodach.

[mad dog]

We had a pair of large owls nesting in the woods behind our house last year. You could hear them at night. One evening my wife went out and tracked the sound to find them.

I've seen them many other times. Many sightings when I lived in Chester NY, on a farm. They roosted in the barn. Saw 4 or 5 reasonably large ones next to a road in northern VT last year.

Raptors of all types are just as fascinating. We have a nesting pair of red-tail hawks in the woods back here now. One of them scared the crap out of the phone guy, who thought they were trying to kill him!
MD

[tweeddeluxe]

All my life I've lived in a rural area much as you describe and have only seen owls a handful of times. Only twice close enough that I could identify them and always either at dusk or night. Last week one flew silently over my driveway just before dark and a few months ago my son and I saw one perched on a streetlight of all places. The "ears' were a giveaway. I saw a small one perched in the opening of a hollow tree in a cypress swamp one time in the early morning while bass fishing. A couple times I've seen them swoop down on prey at the side of a wooded country road while driving.

I too would love to get a good look at one in its natural setting.

[chet]

Among at least one Native American Plains tribe it's a very bad sign to see an Owl by your residence.

It means someone close will pass...

[Eric Karonen]

Originally Posted by chet

Among at least one Native American Plains tribe it's a very bad sign to see an Owl by your residence.

It means someone close will pass...

There's a book named "I Heard the Owl Call My Name" along the veins that you mention ... by Margaret Craven. A good read ....

[bonefish]

see a snowy driving to work pretty frequently in the early a.m., and occasionally in the evening, always along the same stretch of I-90. see the occasional owl, and more often hawks on telephone poles and fence posts, plus eagles now and then. one of the reasons i live in the black hills!

[slauson slim]

A couple of owls perch sometimes in the trees in front of our house. I've seen their outlines and hooted at them, getting a hoot once in response.

My wife and I were scared witless by a big owl a few years ago, walking back from a pub late at night in Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk. We were walking down a lane and this huge thing flew right in front of us - very startling.

Right now a big wild turkey appears in the lot across the street from us mornings and at twilight. Two pairs of hawks are beginning to nest in the trees in that lot as well. The pairs fly around calling to each other, then land in the trees and squeak and yak and cackle softly to each other. We also have magpies nearby.

[Mid Life Crisis]

One of the things about raptors that's very noticeable is just how many more Red Kites and Buzzards there are now, in England at least.

Red Kites used to be pretty rare, but these days on a car trip of say 60 miles or more you're almost guaranteed to see some. The other week I was driving up the M40 near High Wycombe (west of London) and I must have seen about 30-40 of them. I've also read somewhere that Buzzards have started to outnumber Kestrels as our commonest bird of prey.

[hannigan]

Originally Posted by chet

Among at least one Native American Plains tribe it's a very bad sign to see an Owl by your residence.

It means someone close will pass...

My Mom used to say if a bird hits a window somebody close would die.
Of all the birds that hit over the years you would think none of us would be left, If a bird hits a window it more likely mean the bird dies,......
Have you heard about the bbbbbbbbird?

[tjk3052]

My parents are big into bird photography, here's the owl section of their website:
http://www.flightofnature.com/raptor...f=K0929617.jpg

[claudel]

I was fortunate enough to see these two along with a few others at a
presentation given at the Flagstaff Arboretum a few years back.

Rescues from various mishaps rather than captured...

Pretty cool to see them up close.

[johnporter]

We see some Owls here from time to time.Sorry to hijack,these have been hanging around for awhile now.They will allow us to walk right up to them.

[6942]

THANK YOU Chet for that uplifting bit of trivia!
Maybe if I start charging him rent on that Pinyon Pine, he'll leave?


Steve

[KevinB]

Originally Posted by Mid Life Crisis

One of the things about raptors that's very noticeable is just how many more Red Kites and Buzzards there are now, in England at least.

Red Kites used to be pretty rare, but these days on a car trip of say 60 miles or more you're almost guaranteed to see some. The other week I was driving up the M40 near High Wycombe (west of London) and I must have seen about 30-40 of them. I've also read somewhere that Buzzards have started to outnumber Kestrels as our commonest bird of prey.

Growing up in the north of England, I used to see buzzards up in the Lake District but I never did see a red kite. I also always wanted to see an osprey, but never did.

Here in New Jersey ospreys are ten-a-penny, and red-tailed hawks (the north American equivalent of European buzzards) are extremely common.

It's certainly good to hear of raptors doing well in the UK again though.

[mickeydean]

every summer there is one in my pine tree out back. he roosts there and i can watch him in the early morning from about 50 ft away in the comfort of my living room.

sometimes i get to see the display of crows dive bombing him out of their territory.

he is huge, probably capable of carrying off my cocker spaniel so i am careful of him.

when i was a kid there was a bounty paid for each one you killed. i thought about shooting him and thirty years ago i would have. i have changed my mind about that stuff.

[hannigan]

Everyones heard about the Bird.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=15372657

[boneyguy]

I had a Snowy Owl try to take my head off once. It was the dead of winter in northern Ontario about 2am and I was walking home with a couple buddies. I'm guessing we would have been about 16 years old. We were coming from a friends place after a few beers and some smokables. One of us noticed a very big Snowy Owl sitting on top of a telephone pole and we all stood there in our altered state staring at it. Then it simply stepped off it's perch and swooped silently at our heads and we all had to hit the snow real fast.

To give you some idea of the owls size. It wasn't a small bird.


I guess over the years I've seen maybe 5 or 6 owls during my whole life. I think of them as very mysterious, secretive birds. I'm absolutely fascinated by them and when I do see one I consider myself very fortunate.

[brewwagon]

Originally Posted by chet

Among at least one Native American Plains tribe it's a very bad sign to see an Owl by your residence.

It means someone close will pass...

......gas


bw


(airing out the tee pee)

[sacizob]

The best way to see an owl during the day is (for me anyhow) when ever you hear a bunch of crows going crazy you can bet they either are ganging up on a hawk or an owl.

[Mid Life Crisis]

All this talk of raptors has reminded me that for Christmas my sister got me an "experience" gift of a falconry lesson. I'll have to get it booked and do a thread about it for the ornithologists.