she has a hook

My current favorite owl who I call "tucked-away owl" because she sits way up in a pine tree and is really hard to spot even when you know where to look.

I think this is a female based on the coloration. I read that females have more spots and usually are a bit more brown/darker than males. The owl I believe is her mate lives a few blocks away and seems lighter overall.

I love the way the one claw just peeks out, looking like some kind of hook on the chest.
 

How did you get your name?

Barn Owls in a barn!

My first time seeing what I assume is the reason they have their name.

 

Learning to stare me down!

I think this is dad teaching a fledgling to give me the stare. So cute!

This is the 1st or 2nd day of fledging for this little one. Its sibling is still in the nest.
 

16 owls spotted on Memorial Day!

Because of all the new owlets I was lucky enough to see 16 owls on my normal 4 mile loop in golden gate park!

Mom(?) with a few owlets. I did see at lest 3 owlets in the nest.

Curious owlet keeping an eye on me.

I think this was mom(?) coming back from hunting earlier in the morning

This is a great-horned owl mom keeping an eye on a nest with two owlets in it. Not posting images of the nest because it's too hard to hide the location and I can imagine crowds forming at the very public location.

These two did not seem happy to see me -:[] They don't seem to have a nest and it's my understanding that it's late in the season so they probably won't be having any owlets this season? I'm new to this so not really sure but it looked like they just paired up a few weeks ago, seemed to be looking for a nest but now just seem to be hanging out in a few different locations which seems like non breading behaviour?

This is a male keeping an eye on his mate that is in a nest that is way up and hard to see. I usually spot her tail and back but usually can't see much more of her. I believe this is the female who's mate was killed a few months ago. I was super happy when I saw these to meeting up once she left her first a few weeks after he first mate was killed. Fingers crossed things work out this time.

I'm pretty sure this is the male of a pair of barn owls that have a nest in a super public landmark that some how few people seem to know about. To be fair it's high enough to be hard to get to or see unless you know where to stand so I think 99.9% percent of people never notice it. The female of the pair is the first owl I ever spotted and was also the one I saw the most because she spent most of the time in one roosting spot until she started her nest. I know they currently have at least 3 owlets. Hoping they make it.
 

Three New Barn Owls in the Neighborhood!!!

Also one of the parents keeping an eye on us before moving out of the way so we could see the three owlets.

I'm keeping an eye on two more barn owl nests and two great horned owl nests. Have briefly seen at least the top of one great horned owlet.

Little nest, Big nest.

It seems to be the season. I have found a few nesting spots recently.

It's been a minute since I've seen a humming bird nest. I only spotted this one because the hummingbird was yelling at me then went and sat in the nest. I think I saw some little beaks poking out when I checked in on it yesterday.

here are a few owl nests I have spotted but this is probably the easiest to see as well as being really high and out of the way. I have been watching the pair for a few months. I think they took this nest from some hawks. The sad thing is that a few weeks after it looked like their nesting was in full effect I found one of the pair (male?) dead under one of their regular roosting trees. It looked like it had a deep gash on the back of it's neck and the way it was on the ground it looked similar to how I've seen hawks kill other birds. So maybe one of the hawks they stole the nest from got revenge? It's been a few weeks and the one owl is still on the nest. I was told it's not likely the eggs will hatch since (she?) would have to leave the nest for too long and the eggs would get too cool. I'm going to keep an eye on it just in case 🤞

I'm pulling for them but still getting disapproving looks!

 

Waking up grumpy!

I would probably be grumpy too if woke up to someone taking a picture of me.

Late Night Traffic Enforcement Officer

Spotted on a 1am walk along Great Highway. I have been walking the Great Highway path at dawn, sunset and late at night on clear fairly bright moon lit nights in hopes of seeing a barn owl in our neighborhood and I finally spotted one last night!

Hooting at the moon!

I can't believe how lucky I got at the end of my walk last night.

I was on my way home almost an hour after sunset when I heard some hooting ahead of me on the path. As I got closer I spotted the great horned owl on a branch right over the path and right in front of the moon.

To catch the hooting with the moon was more than I could have hoped for. Though I wish I had managed to get better shots and video but it was dark and super hard to try and get the moon and the owl exposed together with less than a minute before it flew off.
 

Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick!

OB Burrowing Owl!!!

We were walking to pick up dinner and hoping to spot a barn owl on the way. @the_borkalork thought she saw a little bird in front of us that was quiet like an owl. I couldn't see it but then she pointed it out and I managed to take some not so great pictures. It was dark.

This is the first burrowing owl either of us have seen and it was only a block or so from our place. So cool!

 

Surprised humans survived another year!

Punk rock owl seemed very surprised to see me today. I was surprised as well!

Happy New Year humans, owls, and everything else!

Owl finds out what we do to Turkeys today!

Then gives me a look that chills me to this very day!

Who's There?

I spotted a bunch of old owl pellets and bones on the ground right under a hole in a tree about a month ago. They all looked old and I never saw anything in the whole.

Last week I walked by and noticed a lot of new looking pellets and step back a bit and saw the top of a barn owls head!

It is on my normal walk so I look into the whole from a nearby hill and have managed to catch the barn owl looking back a few times. When it notices me it usually ducks down to where I can only see the top of it's head from the hill.

I think it may be one of the owls I have seen in other areas and other people have seen flying around in that same area.

Fingers crossed for some little ones during the mating season.

 

Who needs two good eyes?!

She looks tough and I wouldn't mess with her.

Poor mouse but glad she doesn't seem to have any trouble getting a meal.

Peaking out of the grass on top of the kill.

Owl rich day!

I went on two walks today and saw at least 5 individual owls.

No pictures from the dawn walk but I saw two flying, one screeching then flying right over my head! I heard at least 4 great horned owls and found a location new to me that I went back to later.

On the sunset walk I saw two Barn Owls and two Great Horned Owls.

I also heard another Great Horned Owl hooting in the new area I scoped out in the morning but couldn't see it. Just for fun I took a few pictures of where I heard the hoots. It turns out one of the pictures I took had the owl in it!

Can you spot the owl ? I made it easier by cropping the image some.

I know which tree that is so I'm going to take a look next time I'm out.

So many owls today!

 

Walk left me feeling melancholy

It started off very nice seeing a bunch of birds. All regulars I was hoping to see.

Norther Flicker

Barn Owl

Female Belted

Then I walked up to a lake I haven't been to in a few weeks and to my surprise there was a very handsome male Kingfisher.

He was catching fish sitting in spots that were easy to see him. Then he flew off. I headed toward home also in the direction he flew off in hoping I might see him at one of the other two lakes I would pass.

At the 2nd lake there was a Great Egret looking very photogenic.

While taking photos of the egret there were a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks making a ruckus and flying into low bushes.

I just managed to get a blurry picture.

It was making a lot of noises so I moved to where I could get a better view and saw the hawk covering something up.

To my surprise it had taken a Belted Kingfisher which I suspect was the one I had seen earlier.

While I know the hawk needs to eat just like the kingfisher catching fish it still made me feel a bit sad at the moment then faded into a lingering melancholy.

On the way out I saw another regular (10) Great Horned Owl hidden in one of it's regular spots keeping a close eye on everything.

Still so amazed and happy to have Golden Gate Park for these amazing walks and experiences.

Watching you from the bushes (o)(o)

I was checking a regular spot for great horned owls but didn't see any. Then I saw what looked like two red tailed hawks fighting as they fell from the top of a tree across the street. One landed in a bush and looked to be sitting there. I walked closer to get a picture of the hawk. But as I got close I realized I found one of the owls I was looking for and that it had been fighting with a hawk!

It sat there watching me for a bit then flew up into the tree they frequent.

Golden Gate Park makes for fun walks -:]