For those of you who like owls, these are the Owls I see in my neighborhood.

Short Eared Owl.
One of the most seen owl in this area. They nest here. On the ground in open grasslands. And they are the only Owl we have that does not stay here all year.


Great Gray Owl.
This one was watching my yard. They are our Largest Owl length and wingspan but not our heaviest. That honor goes to the Snowy Owl.


Hawk Owl, a smaller owl and one of two Owls that hunt during the day. They look like a hawk in flight.
Another interesting thing about them, there will be lots around for months, and then none for months or a year or two.


Barred Owl. Plentiful but seldom seen. Here they stick to old growth forests and hunt very late in the day or at night.


Snowy Owl. Only seen here in winter. They like wide open spaces and they hunt all day.
These are females, the males are pure white.



Last but not least, the only owl species here that will roost in buildings.
Great Horned Owl.


A few days ago I posted photos of one that borrowed my chair for a few days.

We have a couple of small owl species but I have been unable to photograph either.

Very nice!
Thanks for sharing

Love those things! Great photos! Thanks for sharing….

I’m fascinated by all birds of prey

Great photo's! Thanks for sharing. Do you have many of bears?

Red

as Tony would say greattttttttttttttttttttttttttt

We have two species of Bears. Black Bear and Grizzly bears.
This area has a high population of Black Bears, enough that they are a nuisance for farmers and land owners are allowed to shoot as many as they wish on their land and any land they have permission on. No season, no limit, no usage required. You can chootem and leave em.

They can be hunted anywhere they are found, with a license. There are two tags issued with each license and there are two seasons, a fall and a spring season.
Tags are good for both seasons.

And we have a high percent of colored bears, like this one I photographed on the way to town last summer.

Non residents can hunt them with a license but they have to hire an outfitter to hunt anything in this province.




The Grizzly population is low so they are protected. Shooting one could get a fellow in serious trouble if caught.
But there are some here.
Like this one I photographed several miles north of my place, about ten years ago.

Great bear pics. Thanks

Great pictures, thanks!

Thanks for sharing!

Love Owls.

Not an easy bird to photograph.

Had this Great Horned Owl around my house for awhile.

Have a Barn Owl roosting in my barn... go figure. Check out his talon.

Great pictures

Amazing owl photos there flintknapper. I love them!
I've never seen an owl catch a bird before but I have read that GHOs do catch a lot of Grouse.

I have never seen a Barn Owl. There are none here.
There are some in the south of Alberta and I did spend a week last spring down there photographing birds. Barn Owls were one of the species I was hopping to see on that trip, but we didn't find any.

Is that a Meadow Mouse in it's talons or a Pocket Gopher.

Thanks for sharing.

Great photos. I have always thought that the Great Grey's have the neatest eyes. They always seem to look so intense.

Thank you, sir, and good eyes. I think it's a mole or gopher.

Was out archery hunting. Heard eek, eek, so I mimicked the sound it got closer.
Eek, eek, so I returned sound. It got closer. Went on for a few minutes.
Then an owl landed in Tree next ta me. Eek eek turning its head 180.
Repeated, & it repeated. Sat their few minutes. Talking back & forth.
One of my favorite hunts.
True trophy hunt. The memories brought back with ya.
Thanks for sharing.

What many people call a mole is actually a Pocket Gopher.
True Moles seldom go above ground. Pocket Gophers live underground during daylight hours and go above ground at night to find food and many are caught by Owls and Coyotes

You'll know if there are pocket gophers around if you see mounds like this;



This is what Mole damage looks like;

Good stuff hogwart, thanks for posting, love the owl pics

Was it a small Owl?
I know Barn Owls can make sounds that one could describe as eek but it's the only one I know of.
Here is one example, but other calls they make are a better fit for what you describe.
https://media.audubon.org/barnow_1.screamsnum1_utkc_0.mp3

I do know that Owls make a lot more sounds then the typical hoot

One example is the Barred Owl.
https://media.audubon.org/barrow_1.classichootsnum1_inle_0.mp3

They do have amazing eyes. I like their bow tie even more.

Yessir, I have those mounds all over my place. I need the owls to pick up the pace.

We have an Eastern Screech Owl that hunts our place pretty much every night. He is the cutest little bird.

[img]http://https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.allaboutbirds.org%2Fguide%2Fassets%2Fphoto%2F297361511-480px.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.allaboutbirds.org%2Fguide%2FEastern_Screech-Owl%2Fid&tbnid=r_8Vavnt3wqdcM&vet=12ahUKEwjn6Ma4kN_7AhXtbTABHXK_AekQMygAegUIARDiAQ..i&docid=H_k1njNL3XDFXM&w=480&h=361&q=eastern%20screech%20owl&hl=en-us&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwjn6Ma4kN_7AhXtbTABHXK_AekQMygAegUIARDiAQ[/img]