My heart skipped a beat. I thought I finally spotted one of these beautiful creatures in the wild! I was once again denied!

Sitting so pretty, he was definitely posing!! Taken on a Nikon c72 and was beyond happy with the results!

Went up the ladder to some wire & this little guy/girl was looking right at me.

This is the third time I’ve seen him do this, I’ve never seen one stretch this much, tough day at work probably

This was the best possible shot I could get (crappy iPhone camera so sorry!!) my fiance and I spotted this little cutie on our way to grab a late night treat at our corner store, we never really see owls so this was a lovely surprise! We live in west Texas, this fella was so small 🤍
Will post a video in the comments if I’m able to, I tried attaching it to this post but it won’t let me

D500 Sigma180-600

https://www.collincessnaartwork.com/collins-creatures-1

Red morph Eastern screech owl where we walk

We recently moved into a new house and this owl has taken a liking to our basketball goal. You can see him out there a few nights a week. We have named him Larry after Larry Bird the basketball player because he’s a bird that likes sitting on the basketball goal. He’s pretty chill and us sitting on the porch about 10-15 yards away doesn’t seem to bother him. If we make a loud noise or sudden movement he’ll look at us but that’s about it. We’ve really enjoyed watching him hunt. He’ll swoop down and get something, fly into a tree, eat it, then return to the basketball goal.

I was quadding on my way back home and I came across this owl. He was just sitting in the middle of the trail I always use to drive back to my place. I only noticed him when I had to slow down as I was about to hit a bump then I seen him. He didn’t fly away or anything, so I walked up to him (don’t worry I kept my distance) and took a few pictures and said hi, then I got back on my quad and as I started turning out of his way he flew away. Could this have been a sign of anything? Are owls known to avoid humans or be friendly? I’m curious.

Was so surprised to find myself eye to eye with an owl as we were driving in a canyon! We turned around to snag these photos before he flew off. 😻

I stumbled upon some bird banding while visiting Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie this weekend. They caught this pretty female Saw Whet owl. All of her flight feathers fluoresced pink under the black light indicating she hatched this year. I didn’t capture of photo of this phenomenon but this website does a good job of showing what I mean. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Paired-views-of-ventral-surfaces-of-Northern-Saw-whet-Owl-wings-photographed-in_fig1_232672438