Yesterday a Barred owl decided to sit on our ozakazuki for almost 15 minutes. So I decided to try and take a picture. I walked slowly towards it and got to about 10' (3 meters) from it. My wife took a picture of me taking the picture from inside the house.
I did not expected to see you in a so dancing approche, you are beautifil my dear ! The visitor’s name in France is ‘dame blanche’.
This is a Barred Owl not a Great Gray Owl. I know you were referring to its general grey appearance not the actual species Great Gray Owl. I recently was sent a photo of a Snowy Owl in Vancouver which was a Barred but because of their very pale appearance especially when seen at night it was mistaken for a Snowy. Snowy's are even rarer in the Lower Mainland than Great Gray's. Barred have dark eyes whereas Great Gray's have yellow eyes. Barred are very common now in the Lower Mainland but Great Gray's are extremely rare and because of the frenzy one sighting can create amongst birders their specific location is not allowed to be reported on eBird. The closest sighting in BC in the last 3 months is somewhere in the general Salmon Arm area. If you were lucky(?) enough to have a Great Gray and word got out your neighbourhood would resemble a photographer's convention with dozens of gigantic lenses eagerly awaiting a sighting! Also, listen for the famous call of the Barred Owl described as...Hoo, hoo Who cooks for you, Who cooks for you. In the Fall the juveniles, and some adults, can be territorial as they search for an area to set up shop in. I found that out this past October when on an early morning hike in the dark I was suddenly struck with quite great force in the head from behind. The Barred Owl landed on a nearby No Parking sign and then proceeded to make 5 more passes at me, despite my shining a flashlight on strobe effect at it, before finally giving up and concluding it had made its point as I carried on with my hike.
