Great Horned Owl

My apologies, everyone, for changing the upload time for this image. Flickr (or whoever) changed this MAIN photo to number three posted this morning. Thanks for letting me know, Bonnie, just when I came back to my computer and saw that my third photo (decorated silos) had more comments. That almost always means that my photos are being seen NOT in the order in which I wanted and posted them. The silos were posted just for the record, which is why I slipped them in at third place.

On 26 November 2016, friends and I were so very lucky. On a walk in Fish Creek Park, we found not only an owl, but two owls, and different species - this Great Horned Owl and a teeny, popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl. It had been almost two years since I last saw a Northern Pygmy-owl. That one, also, had been seen in Fish Creek Park. On 26 November, it was near the top of a very tall tree, so my photos were fully zoomed and cropped and posted just for the record.

The Great Horned Owl, however, was seen nice and low and out in the open. The bird was large and fairly pale, so we think it was probably a female. After taking a few photos through the trees, we continued our walk and I was able to get a few shots from a different angle, just before she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Then, the following day, 27 November 2016, I decided I would go back to the park and meet different friends and hope to be able to at least show them where we had seen the Great Horned Owl the previous day. Amazingly, there she was, sitting in exactly the same place, out in the open. We continued our walk, talking about seeing owls, when I suddenly stopped and grinned. I had spotted a second owl (a bit smaller and darker, so a male) so far away in the distance, through a mass of trees. No idea how I saw it, as it was so well camouflaged. After a long look, a couple of my friends still weren't able to find it, it was so well hidden. This bird was beautiful, with lovely colour on his face.

After our walk, some of us called in at Tim Horton's for coffee. I always enjoy this, just as much as the walk itself. Thanks, Janet, Bernie and Stephen for a rewarding afternoon!

Will add our leader's list of bird species seen, in a comment box below. We split into two groups, as so often happens, so not everyone saw everything on the list. My group only saw one Northern Pygmy-owl, not two.