My owl visitors ....

I thought I'd add my experience with owls here. Not sure what species of owls they are. I am sure someone here will know and educate me.

I am copying and pasting this from another forum I posted my experience in:

I was out watering my garden beds and it was getting dark. Suddenly, I heard something on the fence and heard this low cooing sound. Looked over and what do ya know...... it was an OWL! Wowee..... I was so excited! So slowly walked back to the house to get my camera. When I came back out it was gone. So went back to finish my watering with camera in hand hoping to see it again. Sure enough, as soon as I got near the fence, it flew back and perched for me....... and posed! LOL!

Boy! Am I ever stoked!!! But wait .... there is more!

And then it allowed me to get closer.

I was so thrilled that I couldn't hold the camera still. Sorry this photo is a bit blurry. Cute, isn't it?! :-) :-) :-)

It then flew over to the bird feeder. So I walked slowly over to keep from scaring it. And took another photo from below the feeder.

But wait ..... here is the kicker......

While I was standing there taking photos of the owl on the bird feeder, I heard more wings flapping. I looked up and saw 2 more owls on my power line just about 8 feet up! They were following each other. One seemed a little unsteady. I think this might have been either sibling owls or mom & dad owl teaching their baby to fly and hunt at night!

Isn't that the coolest thing!!!

I so love going out in my yard at night! Ya just never know what you'll see! Way cool, indeedie!

Here is another photo of the the owl on the fence. I love how they can move their head around like that! Does anyone know what kind of owls these were? I photographed them on June 3 and I think they might have been trying to get a field mouse that was in my yard scurrying around. I saw the mouse when I was watering my garden beds as it ran out and away! :-)

This message was edited Jun 11, 2007 6:33 AM

Eastern Screech Owl ...Our smallest Florida Owl
They come in a brown phase and a gray phase (they don't screech)

Thanks OldNed for the ID! :-)

My gosh becky!! What an amazing experience! I am so glad you got all these photos to share with us too! In the 20 years I've lived in this house I've never seen an owl.

Wow! What a great experience. They are so cute! Thanks for posting the photos.

Awesome - what a marvelous experience and the photos are wonderful!!

Thanks y'all for enjoying my photos and story!

This is the second time in the past year that I have seen an owl in my backyard. The first time was less than a year ago. We have a dog that needed to be let outside to do his business (after dark). My dh let him out and was greeted by an unexpected visitor. Him and my 2 teenagers called for me to come out on the lit screen porch.

Boy! Was I surprised when I walked out and saw - just outside my screen door - one of these same owls perched on the back of our outside patio chair looking right at us. He was almost eye to eye with us! He was within 5 ft. of us! We were all amazed to see an owl that close up and were surprised that he wasn't scared of us. He sat there for the longest time moving his head all around and staring at us. I think he was just as curious about us as we were about him.

After about 10 minutes, it occurred to me to go get my camera. Unfortunately, by the time I located my camera and returned to the porch, it had flown away. We didn't know what species of owl that it was and because it was such a small owl, we thought it was a baby owl or something. Apparently not, according to OldNed's ID and description. We have field mice in the vacant lot behind our fence and the mice come into our yard at night looking for food because we have a bird feeder. The mice run along through my garden beds and under plants that border the exterior of our house to hide when traveling. I am now thinking that a mouse must have been hiding behind all my pots of Nasturtiums and 4 O'Clocks that are right there by the screened door. I have a feeling the owl was looking for the mouse not us! Ya know .... dinner!! LOL

I am so surprised to see owls again. It's got to be the field mice that they were hunting right into my backyard. Perhaps sometime I'll see one again! It's funny how little fear they have of humans. Most birds take off the minute I get within 15-20 feet of them. Not these owls! An amazing experience both times! I am so glad I was able to get photos this time! :-) :-)

Becky, that truly is amazing - I've never actually seen an owl in person, although I hear them at night. I sure would enjoy that. Again, great photos and thanks for sharing them and your stories! Hope you see more so WE can see more!

That is a great story. What an evening you had. I have seen quite a few owls here, but never a close up like you had, and in your yard.
Thanks for sharing with us all. I sure was sharing the excitement. (I get the same way, look in awe and then think....duh...get the camera!)

I have a Western Screech Owl that visits here, and he's a creature of habit. Every night, usually about the same time, he perches above the barn doors to wait for a mouse. These owls you can walk right up to, and they show little, if any, concern. I have a bunch of images I took last week, but am unable to share photos right now.

How wonderful you were able to see more of the family members! I often hear calls while I am watching the one at the barn, but I've never seen but one at a time.

Last fall I had a Pygmy Owl visit over several days. They are only robin sized, and really cute. They hunt in the daytime, and it was after the birds at my feeder. They're only a blur when hunting! They can move really fast.

I hope you get to see them again!