What kind of owl?

There are a couple of owls putting on their won little concert every night in the woods in my backyard – and I love it. Never get to see them, except before dusk tonight this one appeared. Not the best of images, but this dude was not going to let me get anywhere near enough for something better. This was with a 400mm as it is.

What type of owl is this?

We get Screech Owls in the summer, but I never see them either.

I feel sorry for people that don’t appreciate these natural wonders.

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Great Horned Owl. Nice pictures!

Great horned owl for sure. Hopefully they hang around you during the summer when the juveniles are out and about. The feeding cry from those things will wake you up from a dead sleep! We have had a family hanging around for the past two summers and there is nothing finer than the midsummer music of nature!!!

Steve Root wrote:

Great Horned Owl. Nice pictures!

…Yes sir that’s what is… Most of my encounters with Great Horned Owls have been at night When calling for fox and yotes.. I am sure a lot you night callers have had one or a few come into you to. They like the screaming rabbit call just like fox and yotes do.. Oh ya in the dark of the night they can scare the @#$% out of you when all of a sudden they land right next to you.!! … …rrr

Long time ago when I was in central WI fishing, had one scare the crap out of me. I was half asleep, just chilling out in this little cove with steep rocky tree covered banks around me. I was slip bobbering, and catching little crappies, tossing them back. As I went to flip one into the boat, I had this huge shadow come at me from the side. I screamed like a little girl and almost fell out of the boat. Caught me totally off-guard, but this owl just missed my head, going after the fish.

I was so glad no one was around to hear or see it… I would have had to just leave. I deep hooked the next crappie, tossed it high in the air and that owl was there just as it hit the water, taking it up for a lunch. Did it one other time… as it followed me along the shoreline. Obviously this wasn’t its first time doing this. Sort of like the ducks that look for bread at times.

I don’t know what stands out more… how cool it was having that owl so close and seeing it tear through these fish for part of the afternoon, or how embarrassed I was for getting so scared when it first introduced itself. Guess the experiences are all part of the great day…

Growing up on the farm we had a bunch of ducks, phesants, etc etc running around the farm with clipped wings. Well, for about two weeks straight you’d step out the front door of the house and walk right into duck sh*t city. Owl was picking off the ducks, ducks were hiding right on our front door step. Dad got the permission to eliminate the owl. Boy those things are big!
Owls are a very neat bird.

river rat randy wrote:

…Yes sir that’s what is… Most of my encounters with Great Horned Owls have been at night When calling for fox and yotes.. I am sure a lot you night callers have had one or a few come into you to. They like the screaming rabbit call just like fox and yotes do.. Oh ya in the dark of the night they can scare the @#$% out of you when all of a sudden they land right next to you.!! … …rrr

I’ve had that happen. It’s freaky to have them come and sit right above you, knowing that they’re on the hunt and you’re making the sound that their supper makes. They could easily drop down and rip off your scalp if they wanted to.

What astonished me is that they can fly through the thick mass of forest branches without rustling a twig. How they manage to maneuver that giant 6″+ wingspan through those tight spaces and never make a sound is amazing. Damn ninja birds.

Congratulations!

Seeing this is Southern Wisconsin you just may have produced definitive photographic evidence of the Wisconsin Mothman.

My freakiest experience with an owl came as a young high school guy out sitting in a deer stand with my bow for the first time. I had heard owls calling all around me. I happen to be wearing a TALL rabbit fur hat that was given to me by my grandfather. Sure enough, an owl flew so quietly I never heard a thing, but he plucked that hat right off my head and landed on the ground out if front of me and tore the hat to shreds. Not sure why the owl would think there was a rabbit up in a tree, but he got my hat anyway. I love to hear them calling back and forth. We had a Bard owl family in my tree in town one year. Babies sat in the apple tree and even made it up to our porch. My daughter was young then and she wanted to pet them. I pointed out Momma owl in the tree and told her the petting would not be good idea.

iacanoeguy wrote:

I happen to be wearing a TALL rabbit fur hat that was given to me by my grandfather. Sure enough, an owl flew so quietly I never heard a thing, but he plucked that hat right off my head and landed on the ground out if front of me and tore the hat to shreds.

That’s hilarious, but I am sure you needed to change your undies after that!

Owls are awesome! Billy and I were on a night time 4-wheeler ride at his folk’s land in WI and we parked on the bridge. We were just listening to the night sounds of the woods and the creek beneath the moonlight… when an owl started hooting and squacking! I laughed so hard! It sounded fake! Right out of a low-budget film. It was amazing to listen to. And I’m sure the owl and his friends thought my obnoxious laughter was quite amusing as well.