Discussion: Owl

On Tuesday, around 5:30 PM, I may have seen an owl at HW. He was flying away from me, and I couldn't really ID him positively, but he was definitely a raptor and in the woods. So maybe there's a 75% chance that he was an owl, and a 75% conditional probability that he was a great horned owl, given that he was an owl. He was big. Anyway, he was on the West side of the lake, in the northern part of the preserve, a couple hundred meters south of the road that goes down to the beach, and quite close to the loop road. Have you seen this guy?

Good chance its a great horned or a barred. I have heard barred owls in that area. I've got barred in 3 of the 4 survey blocks that include the park (all except northeast) and great horned in the northern two. I'm quite sure both species actually live in all 4 blocks. Sometime I'll show you the survey block maps and if you get a clear sighting, let me know exactly where. Also if you see anything interesting at Bebb.

A few weeks ago I pulled into my driveway and there was a cute little owl in the middle of it. It was probably no more than 6-8 inches tall. It flew up to a tree branch and watched me pull my car in, but left before I could get a closer look.

probably Eastern screech, although Northern saw-whet owls are winter residents in your area (as well as here). The screech usually has ear tufts visible.

Thanks, Mike! It was at night (as I guess one would expect) and I did not notice ear tufts. Interstingly, I saw a similar (small) one here once before about 4-5 years ago. Kinda wish they'd visit more often.