More Bird Treats

[Marc St Louis]

A couple weeks ago we had a Northern Shrike come and hunt under our bird feeder.  Sunday morning this fellow showed up outside our kitchen window to do some.  Unfortunately we couldn't stay long enough to see if he was successful.

[DC]

Cool, do you know what kind of owl it is Marc?

[JW_Halverson]

Best I can guess is that this is a barred owl or a great grey owl. Both have the dark eyes and rounded heads.  With nothing for size reference, I cannot guess which. A better view of the face of the owl might help, too. 

Great grey owls have YUUUGE heads, freakish big, even.

[DC]

I was guessing Barred but it looked way to small. But you're right there is nothing to measure it against.

[Marc St Louis]

He was about 18" from tip of tail to top of head so I believe that would make him a Barred.  I saw him come down twice but he went back up to his branch empty

You could measure him by the bird feeder which is almost over his head.  That put him about 12' away from me

[Hawkdancer]

Neat!  I missed the shrike by one sub species!  Found a better picture last week!  Haven't seen either of those owl species that I remember!
Hawkdancer

[Marc St Louis]

Our friend was back hunting this morning.



Had to go out this morning but before we went out I decided to "chum" the snow to help him with his hunting.  When we got back several hours later he was still there but a bit further up the tree, don't know whether he got anything in the meantime.

[JW_Halverson]

The black eyes cinched it. That's a barred owl. Great grey's eyes are yellow.

Handsome devil, this one!

[DC]

Their call goes like"Who, who, who cooks for you."    We hear them quite often here. I believe they are the most common species here but owls are so secretive it's hard to say.

[Hawkdancer]

Used to hear them a lot 30 - 40 years age, could even I'd them by the hoot!  Then my hearing really went south!!  Did have what we thought was a snowy owl watch us set up camp one year, but it may have been a barred or great grey.  Quite an experience!  Hope the new ear lets me hear them again!
Hawkdancer

[DC]

How is the ear thing going? I've been wondering about that.

[Hawkdancer]

DC, it's a relearning curve!  Have to learn to recognize sounds and speech again, in some cases, stuff that I haven't heard for over 50 years.  I think I am making steady progress, got another follow-up with the audiologist this Wednesday.  Still a challenge where there is a lot of background noise, though.  Hope to be able to recognize more outdoor sounds as I go along at longer ranges.
Hawkdancer

[DC]

Hope it works out

[Marc St Louis]

Well he's back again this morning.  Hopefully that's an indication that he is having some success.

[Marc St Louis]

This is not the first Barred Owl I have seen close up and from past experience I have found that they are not too concerned about humans.  I had to walk past him this afternoon and asked my wife to take some pictures to see his reaction as I walked by.  You can see that in these 3 pictures he is not too phased as I walk right under him going down and again as I walk by him coming back