I think most people are fascinated by owls. Through the ages, owls have evoked a sense of mystery owing in part to their appearance, nocturnal behaviour, haunting calls and secretive nature. I absolutely love owls, and have gone out on literally hundreds of outings to search for them. This post will review some of my encounters and observations of owls that can be found in the Pacific Northwest.

The Barred owl (Strix varia) is the most common owl where I live, in Vancouver, British Columbia. While I say "common", all owls are very difficult to find, not least the Barred. However, once you find a Barred Owl breeding territory, they can be located reliably during March and April. This is their mating season and they can be quite vocal, as the two birds exchange their signature "who-cooks-for-you" hoots.

The key to finding Barred Owls is knowing and listening for their calls. They are very active during the day and their hoots travel a long distance. Once you hear a bird, repeated calls will guide you closer and closer. This is the part of owling I love the most—the search! Tracking an owl in the forest is so fulfilling and if it results in a nice photograph or video, even more so.

In 2020, I spent the entire month of June video-graphing a Barred Owl family in North Vancouver. I initially found a juvenile bird through its high-pitched screeching call. Juveniles are easier to find than adults as they are far more vocal, repeating their contact calls every few minutes for hours. While very approachable, I stayed my distance and used a telephoto lens to record plenty of footage. The parents would appear once in a while, bringing food and keeping watch over the youngster.

Overall, Barred Owls are doing very well across North America, with the population on a consistent increase. Unfortunately, this hasn't bode well for the similar, but threatened, Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis). Barred Owls are more aggressive than Spotted Owls and, as a result, they have been displaced from many of their traditional breeding grounds by the more dominant species. The Spotted Owl has nearly been extirpated from my home province of British Columbia.

One of my favourite birds of all time is the Northern Pygmy-owl (Glaucidium gnoma). This is a tiny owl, measuring a mere 7 inches in length. Nevertheless, it is a fierce little hunter, often taking prey of much larger size. One of my most enjoyable birding pastimes is tracking pygmy-owls during October and November in the coastal mountains of North and West Vancouver. They can be more vocal during these months and, thus, easier to find.

As with Barred Owls, the key is learning their songs and calls and then quietly hiking in their habitat with ears and eyes peeled. Once heard, look for the owl on conifer treetops or snags. Playback of their calls through your phone can also pique their interest, but this should only be done outside of the spring/summer breeding season. Their habit of perching on the tops of small conifers makes getting a clear, unobstructed photo with a nice background possible. I have several charming pygmy-owl videos here.

If you are searching for pygmy-owls in the coastal mountains of the northwest, do this in October and early November and concentrate on cleared areas, for example, power lines, clearcuts, ski slopes and the like.

Pygmy-owls prefer hunting on the edges of these clearings. They can also be located during their characteristic undulating flight from treetop to treetop. Their flight is similar to that of a sapsucker (also one of their favourite treats!)

Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) are the true kings and queens of forest birdlife. These massive owls have been known to capture birds and animals larger than themselves, including other birds of prey. In the Vancouver area, I have found Great Horned Owls to be a lot harder to find than Barred Owls. However, I did recently locate a family of Great Horned Owls at Cypress Mountain, in West Vancouver.

I also had an interesting experience tracking and photographing a bird in Northern California a few years ago. I found a nesting pair and started to track them through some low scrub bushes. Little did I know that I was knee high in poison oak, and with shorts on to boot. I was too occupied with the owling to have identified the plants I was wading through. By the next day, my lower legs were red, swollen and liquifying! It took a solid month of treatment before they were healed. It was worth all that to get closeup photos and videos of that gorgeous owl!

Other Pacific Northwest owl species include the Short-eared Owl, Long-eared Owl, Snowy Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl. Short-eared Owls, unlike most other owls, hunt in open grassy or marshy habitats. They are reliably found locally along the Delta coastline. In the Vancouver area, I have seen Saw-whet Owls at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Stanley Park , though they are hard to photograph, often partially obscured by foliage. I have yet to get a really great photograph of these little guys.