Superbowl

From T J Campbell

Some days have no words to describe. 3 fledglings together in one tree waiting to learn to hunt. May 13 2025 Calgary Alberta taken with Canon 90d with a 150-600mm lens. All have been cropped.

From Paul Bannick

Cuban Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium siju) Pygmy-Owls are aggressive defenders of their nest cavities. They eat mostly insects, small reptiles, and birds. This particular male focused on scaring rather than capturing the cavity nesting Cuban Parakeet that had perched too close to its nest.

From Gid Ferrer

Philippine Eagle-owl

NAPWC 02/2025

The Philippine Eagle-owl is a vulnerable species of owl belonging to the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Philippines, where it is found in lowland forests on the islands of Catanduanes, Samar, Bohol, Mindanao, Luzon, Leyte and possibly Sibuyan.

Thank you for this wonderful pose and opportunity to photograph you. We all appreciate you

Fujifilm XH2 O XF 150-600mm

This photo is to create awareness that we have such great biodiversity in the Philippines and we need to protect and conserve them against poaching, hunting and environmental damage.

From Sun Journal

By Sara Wright

My relationship with barred owls began when I built my little cabin in 2002. That first winter a pair hunted from the branches of two large pines situated close to the living room windows. These are large and very beautiful owls with dark luminescent eyes, striped mole and cream feathers and a wingspan up to 50 inches.

I watched for them at dusk, and occasionally witnessed a strike, but most of the time the two peered in at me or just sat there in wait until it got too dark. Of course, with asymmetrical ears that can triangulate exact locations of prey, most meals probably arrived at night. If snow had fallen, I looked for wing prints the following morning though I knew if I saw a pair some creature had lost its life. I reminded myself that owls need to eat too.

As early as December, I would begin to hear barred owl songs. The signature call that most people translate as ‘who cooks for you’ doesn’t work for me. I heard musical trills instead. The pair, they mate for life, frequently vocalized at dusk during the following two months. Their conversation seemed so nuanced and complex. After courting in March or April I heard what I believed to be the territorial hooting call that always seemed louder and more distinct to me.

The parents are excellent caregivers. While the female incubates her 2-3 eggs for a month, the male feeds her. After birth papa brings food for the family until the female can join him hunting. Owlets grow fast and occasionally one will fall out of the nest. Although I never witnessed the sight, some owlets can climb up and down a tree using their beaks and talons! If a chick remains on the ground, one of the parents continues to feed the baby bird until it can fly away.

During the late spring and summer months, I heard owlets call from some hidden branch to let the parent know just where to bring the food! Barred owls eat small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. The family stays together through autumn, but even after dispersal the young search for territories nearby.

In late spring/early summer it was also common to hear these owls being mobbed by crows and bluejays, and I often followed the cacophony sometimes intercepting the intruders, but most often I witnessed an unhappy owl desperately trying to escape harassment by flying into other heavily protected evergreens. These owls are not aggressive at all – even when they are provoked.

I knew they preferred to nest in old hollow trees or take over corvid,/raptor/squirrel nests, but I never found one. Once I witnessed an owlet perched on an inner hemlock branch. One parent stood watch – two marbled statues. I looked up, riveted by the sight. The fierce and common Great horned owl is their major predator, so it doesn’t surprise me that these birds freeze when observed or hide out as close to the center of a tree as possible to remain invisible.

Barred owls return to the same nesting sites each year. This tendency coincides with research that suggests that they are tied to place. However, in virtually all the literature I have perused these owls prefer ‘old mature forests’ which I most definitely never had but the mountain behind me was probably their sanctuary. Although my woods are composed of the habitat these owls prefer – swamps brook etc. mixed hardwoods and conifers, my land was cut a few years before I moved here.

Time passed. The forests were heavily logged around me (not by the old loggers who were attached to their trees and logged with care) and the pair that lived here disappeared. I did continue to see one roosting in a large hemlock stand on a nearby logging road. When those trees were stripped away, I stopped seeing or hearing barred owls at all.

Then two years ago, I was suddenly serenaded by barred owls one December dusk. I couldn’t believe it. That winter, I heard them calling across the brook. My woods were thriving, the trees had grown, the canopy of evergreens provided good cover, but have a lifetime or two to become ‘mature,’ and besides I own only a fragment, supposedly not enough territory to support barred owls who no longer have stretches of uninterrupted forest to protect them.

For whatever reason, a pair raised a family here last year just as they used to many years ago. If this winter and spring are any indication this same couple may also be raising a family as I write. In the beginning of March, I stood outside for at least 15 minutes around dusk on and off for a week or two to listen to extended muted conversation between one pair. Courting songs.

Then all went quiet for about a month, and now towards the end of April, I sometimes hear a barred owl call during the day with the repetitive territorial call loudest around dusk. Last night owl hooted for over an hour. It was cloudy and still, so I walked down to the swamp and was able to pin-point the location by ear. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

I wonder if the barred owls that are left are returning to familiar forest fragments that were once a part of larger territories. Privately held patches of land like mine that have been left under nature’s direction and care may have become the only places left that are safe enough for these owls to breed. If my experience is any indication they also may be adapting to smaller territories.

Up until recently, barred owls inhabited portions of the Northeast. But recently their range has extended into the Northwestern part of the United States, and the ‘bird police’ have condemned the intruders as invasive.

The US Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Service and Cornell’s Ornithology Department have determined that the Northwestern expansion of the Barred Owl is threatening the habitat of the its cousin, the spotted owl. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, and some Audubon chapters are also on board with the following decision, which has already been implemented, as of 2025.

Finalized in August 2024, the Barred Owl Management Strategy is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s long-term plan to ‘protect’ native spotted owls in Washington, Oregon and California from the invasive barred owl species. According to these ‘experts,’ barred owls displace spotted owls, disrupt their nesting, compete for food and in some cases, interbreed with their cousins or kill them.

Ironically, interbreeding means that barred owls and their cousins carry some elements of the same genetic code. Even if the spotted owl disappears when the time is right, the species could return, perhaps in the same or a different form.

The ‘Barred Owl Management Strategy’ permits the lethal removal of barred owls by attracting the owls with recorded calls and then shooting them when they respond and approach. In areas where firearms are not allowed, barred owls can be captured and euthanized by other means.

In all, almost 500, 000 – half a million – barred owls will be killed over the next thirty years because it has been determined by all these organizations that barred owls are disrupting the ecosystem. No one mentions loss of eastern habitat as a reason the barred owls are seeking refuge in the Northwest.

Maine is supposed to be the most heavily forested state, but no one talks about the size of the trees.

The Maine Forest Service’s most recent survey found that only 7.2 percent of trees are in the thirteen to 21-inch diameter, and only 0.5 percent are larger than 21 inches in diameter.

Another way of saying the same thing is to state that ninety plus percent of our forests are full of trees less than a foot in diameter.

We have less than 4 percent of what we now call late successional and old growth(?) forest left in the state. But even more important is that overall, the structural and species biodiversity of our forests is being lost. ‘Mature’ forests are more common (or were up until this point) in the Northwest than in the east.

I don’t believe these owls are invasive. I think barred owls are moving west because they have been forced to by habitat destruction directly caused by humans.

Instead of allowing nature who has been orchestrating life on this planet for 3.7 billion years or more to make the decisions about who lives and who dies when, humans, the youngest species on the planet, believe we have all the answers.

Unlike the common great horned owl, a top predator who seems to be thriving throughout the country, barred owls have a niche that requires trees that provide good canopy cover and swampy areas close to water. These owls are reclusive and cannot breed in the hardwood sticks that are overtaking the mountains of Maine (or future tree plantations that will be cut down as children/adolescents in ‘tree time’).

Animals know. Barred owls are migrating to the Northwest where larger stands of forests still exist because they are trying to survive.

From Cape Ann Wildlife

High and dry...but there's always hope!

This beautiful Barred Owl had both his feet caught inside a small hole on the tree he was perched on. Unable to free himself, he was trapped upside down where he struggled for what we can quess had been hours before anyone found him.

Dehydrated and exhausted, he suffered lacerations across his legs and on the side of his mouth from thrashing against the bark. Erin was able to surgically glue his wounds and issued oxygen, pain meds, fluids and antibiotics to get his recovery rolling.

We're grateful to have reached this poor guy just in time, and appreciate Boxford PD & Ipswich ACO Megan for all their help in getting him down safely!

Not 1, not 2, but 3 barred owl babies hanging out in a local forested area I walk through near my house. I had spotted the mom and called my oldest from the house who hadn't seen her yet. As they were taking pictures of mom I started to head back when I start getting frantic messages "BABIES!" so I high-tail it back to get pictures. We only see 2 as we're looking at the tree but when I get back and start processing them what I had eyeballed as just part of the tree was in fact a third baby! No wonder mom was resting, having to keep herd on 3 little ones. This felt like a really special shot.

Lumix G85, Leica DG 100-400 @ 400, f6.3, 1/640, ISO 500, -1EV. Light processing in Raw Therapee. Location: Dublin, OH.

From Walks With Hawks

Let us introduce you to another new owlet. This is "Mowgli" an Indian Scops Owl. We have added a picture of it with an Apple to give you a size comparison!! It weighs 85 grams at the moment !!!

From Natasha Rees

A few photos from Rspb Bempton Cliffs what a fantastic day this was.

Barn Owl and Short Ear Owl.

From Metropolitan Veterinary Associates

Ophthalmologist Dr. Chloe Spertus visited the Elmwood Park Zoo today to examine Houdini, a 13 year old screech owl with corneal degeneration, as well as one of their bearded dragons, Smalls, who has a history of ocular discharge. We are very thankful for our relationship with such a wonderful facility.

From Paul Bannick

Western Screech Owl (Megascops kennicottii) We don't often look for owls on the ground, unless you are looking for Short-eared or Burrowing Owls, but Screech Owls often surprise. These adaptive species feed upon everything from birds and rodents and fish to insects and scorpions and worms which they sometimes pursue on foot!

From Hoo's Woods

Baby Raptor Update: Here's a moment to bring a smile this Tuesday morning: this fully grown 7-week-old barred owl keeping a watchful eye from the basket edge, while a fluffy 21-day-old red-tailed hawk nestles inside.

They aren't being raised together-we just moved them briefly during enclosure maintenance and couldn't resist capturing this sweet moment.

While the barred owl is full grown, the baby hawk still has about 3 more weeks of growing... and will eventually be even bigger than the owl.

Both are doing great and will be released or rehomed when ready.

From John Crooks

A few more shots of the Little Owl. Never encountered one before last week and they are such characters.

From Schlitz Audubon Nature Center

On May 7, licensed raptor bander Bill Stout weighed, measured, and banded the baby Barred Owls in our nest box. This helps us track their whereabouts once they leave the nest, which could happen fairly soon! Learn more about banding and watch the nest box livestream before they're gone: https://www.schlitzaudubon.org/raptors/barred-owl-nest-box-cam/

From Andres Vasquez

Selected as one of the birds of the tour, this Stygian Owl was a great surprise that was not on our radar when we started our Guatemala CT that I recently finished guiding. Such a beast!!!!

Usually the Stygian photos are taken at night with artificial lighting, giving them a demonic red-eyed look. Here though, it just looks like a normal cranky owl. ☺️

From Pepito Baldeo

The Cebu Boobook (Ninox rumseyi) is a small but mighty owl found only on Cebu Island - and nowhere else on Earth!

With its piercing eyes, soft brown feathers, and a haunting "boo-book" call, it is a symbol of hope and resilience. Once thought extinct due to deforestation, it was miraculously rediscovered in the 1990s. But today, it remains critically endangered, clinging to survival in the island's few remaining forest patches.

Tabunan, Cebu City, Philippines

May 18, 2025

Sony A7RM5, Sony FE 200-600mm G OSS

From Stuart Clark

"Staring Contest"

Great Horned Owlets

Vancouver Island

Taken from a distance with a large telephoto lens and cropped in post production - Respect the Nest!

Canon R3 | EF 600mm F4 III | 1/320 Sec | F5.6

From Wild at Heart

When your first flight lands you at... the pharmacy!

Meet Script, a Great Horned Owl fledgling whose parents chose a nesting spot above a pharmacy drive- through, showing just how resourceful wildlife can be in urban spaces!

He was found huddled near the front door, likely hoping for a safe place to rest, but with all the foot traffic, we knew he needed a quieter spot. He's now in good hands and no prescription needed.

Thanks to your support, we're able to rescue raptors like Script and give them the care they need to thrive.

From Billy Young

Man-Owl sleeping on the job again tonight. His kids are about 100 yds behind him screaming for food!! 😅

From Steve Wilke

Some encounters in nature are hard to put into words - and that was exactly how it was that day in the quarry. Between the rugged rock faces and the gentle rustling of the vegetation, I was fortunate enough to observe and photograph a mother eagle owl with her chicks.

In the midst of the quiet, almost mystical surroundings, she sat there - majestic, watchful, yet at once serene. Nearby, well-camouflaged yet curious, were her young offspring, cautiously exploring the world around them.

The atmosphere was indescribably beautiful - a rare and precious moment that touched me deeply. Such encounters are gifts from nature that teach humility and are long remembered.

From EULEN UND GREIFVOGELSTATION Haringsee

Aus unserem Archiv: Junge Waldohreule

From our archive: Young Long Eared Owl

Photo by Stefan Knöpfer

From Jack Rogers

Barred Owl this morning at the Wetlands. Perched in the sun to dry out from an early morning dip in the marsh. 5/7/25

From The Raptor Trust

There's a bit of Weird Alice in all of us. Come see how we help birds through their rough days and back into the wild at our FeatherFest event on June 1 from 11am- 3pm. Register at www.theraptortrust.org/featherfest

If you ever get to the Newark, NJ area, give Alice and the gang a visit! This place is one of the first places to get me into owls. It's a nice place to visit, the staff is great, and they've got a nice little shop.

Came across this on Mastodon: https://owlsintowels.org/ Apologies if dupe but I don’t remember it.

From https://glammr.us/@overholt/114575283647930047

“Wildlife rehabilitators often wrap owls in fabric so they can be weighed, treated, and fed. If not, the owls get in a flap.

The result? Loads of pictures of #owlsintowels“

From Hawks Aloft

Bubba and his Babies! We celebrate our avian foster parents, like Bubba, who take on the hard task of raising orphans, like the three Great Horned Owlets that arrived within the last three weeks.

Bubba feeds his charges, nuzzles them, guards them and ensures that they grow up knowing that they are OWLS. But, he is only programmed to deliver whole mice, so Amelia Thompson, our senior rehabilitator, has to hand feed in the first few days when they need chopped food.

Of the three, the oldest owlet has taken its first short flight and is perched next to Dad. Our female, Dulcita, watches over their brood from above. We are so fortunate to have foster parents in our avian ambassador program.

Thank you @Ethan Thompson for these photos.

From Nuno Falé

Mocho galego (Athene noctua)

Alentejo/Portugal

Maio 2025

Little Owl