Gilligallou's Blog — owls

A beautiful and rare sight, owls have long been a heavy favorite not only in the active birding community, but with people in general. Given their reclusive nature and majestic presence there truly is something special about spotting an owl in the wild. Counts indicate that there are over 200 species of owls on our […]  

These owls are said to be one of the most common owls in North America, but perhaps the reason you haven’t yet spotted one is due mainly in part to the sheer size of this raptor. The Northern Saw-whet Owl is one of the smaller species of owls around and like many other owls can […]

An extremely camouflaged owl, the Eastern Screech Owl can sometimes be difficult to spot during daylight hours due to their superbly blended plumage, but can often easily be identified by its thrilling “screech” sounds. These short and stocky raptors can be found in well-treed areas often hiding in small nooks and crannies in large trees […]  

This year was one for the record books as many of us were treated to multiple sightings of the elegant snowy owl across central and eastern Canada and the American northeast. Observations of the snowy owl this year linked it very closely to the movements of a migratory “snow bird” with reported sightings as far […]