From Terry Jeffery
While outside last night heating up the BBQ, I noticed an owl sitting high up on a spruce tree 3 doors down. It was a little past 6pm and the sun was setting and getting darker out.
I quickly ran into the house to get my camera and casually walked the short distance down the street hoping not to scare it away. Being so high up in the tree, he was still bathed in the sun’s setting rays. What a beautiful sight to see.
I spent about 10 minutes with him before it finally leaped of the tree and swooped down towards me passing about 15 feet above me on the opposite curb.
There was just a light swoosh as it went by me and then proceeded to fly to another spruce tree behind me overlooking the Maple Leaf School field.
I was excited as this is my first photo of a Great Horned Owl or any owl for that matter.
A light swoosh is a good way to put it. You can hear it a little bit when they take off and land, but otherwise it’s really quiet. They’re impressively big up close.
BBC has a great video comparing a pigeon, a peregrine, and a Barn Owl that really highlights how drastically different it is for anyone that hasn’t seen it.
There’s a place with an unreleasable lady GHO, and no matter how many times I see her, she’s still bigger than I expect and very imposing.