All this spring we have had a pair of owls.   Finally got a glimpse of one of them living on the property.  The crows were divebombing outside the great room window and it was one of the owls they were agitated at.  We hear them calling all the time but this is the first time I've seen one.  My great room is 78 feet off the forest floor so I was actually looking down to where it was perched. 

Great picture, first time I saw one I realized how big they were.

Cool photos! I think that’s a barred owl

 

they say: 

 

”who cooks for you, who cooks for y’aaalllll”

 

@GRiver, they come in all sizes , the screech owl and saw whet owl are small while the great horned owl is eagle sized 

@TnRiver46, yea I know that now, when I was younger, I thought they were all soup can size. The first owl I saw was screech owl… small and loud.  

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

they say: 

 

”who cooks for you, who cooks for y’aaalllll

I didn’t know owls had a southern drawl and they use contractions in their vocabulary. Smart birds!

2 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

I didn’t know owls had a southern drawl and they use contractions in their vocabulary. Smart birds!

@TOXIC  Great photos of a great bird!  Look around on the ground and see if you can find any pellets It's a cool trophy if you can find any, BTW they don't stink.

@Lottabass I have in fact found pellets and some that are encased skeletons of mice. 
 

Since I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but still in a wooded neighborhood that has a wooded tract with 2 streams that runs behind us, we get every imaginable critter, reptile, insect, and bird life native to Virginia.  Pics show the back of my property with the same ancient tulip poplar in both winter and summer.  

that's an awesome shot of an owl.  We have a bunch around here (barred, screech, barn most commonly) and I'll see them all the time driving around and hear them out back (we have a similar backing to woodlands).  I'll see them hunting around here also and had one land in a tree 30' away once at eye level.  They are just so cool.

 

We also have a nesting pair of red-tailed hawks about 100 yards down the powerline.  They have been there at least since we moved in 5 years ago.  There is a big gnarly oak that is 3' in diameter with a lot of leg sized branches for the first 50' and a couple big splits.  Then there are vines all intertwined that are arm sized tangling and strangling on that tree.  They have a nest so buried back in there that you can't see it from anywhere on the ground.  I only know it's there because it is eye level when I am sitting at my desk and when the leaves are down I have seen them fly in with binoculars.  

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Since I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but still in a wooded neighborhood that has a wooded tract with 2 streams that runs behind us, we get every imaginable critter, reptile, insect, and bird life native to Virginia.  Pics show the back of my property with the same ancient tulip poplar in both winter and summer.

Looks like a little slice of paradise. Beautiful place @TOXIC.

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

@Lottabass I have in fact found pellets and some that are encased skeletons of mice. 
 

Since I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but still in a wooded neighborhood that has a wooded tract with 2 streams that runs behind us, we get every imaginable critter, reptile, insect, and bird life native to Virginia.  Pics show the back of my property with the same ancient tulip poplar in both winter and summer.  

You are blessed!  BEAUTIFUL!