in the wild, I mean.
I ask because I saw one this morning and it was only my second ever*. I have heard more than that, however. this morning’s was a large brown owl and the first one I saw (decades ago) was a Great White.
is it rare just because they usually are asleep during the day or maybe it isn’t rare and everyone else is seeing owls right and left. 
is this mundane enough for everyone? 
*IRL, I mean - on facebook I see them constantly
I see Great Horned owls every year or so in our neighborhood.
One was in a tree in our backyard last fall:
They’re actually not that hard to find during the day, if you put your mind to it. Go find a birding group and hook up with them when they go find owls. You get good at looking for footballs balancing on tree branches.
Personally, I’ve seen dozens - part because of what I describe above, and part because I just pay attention. We occasionally get a barred owl hanging out in our yard. For a while when I lived in Colorado, I knew where a couple great horned owls nested, right off a road, and would go take a gander every once in a while. We get snowy owls here not infrequently, and it would be easy for me to go find one, but I’m too lazy nowadays.
I guess what I’m saying is, if you set your mind to it, you can see owls, assuming you lives somewhere that has owls, with a little bit of effort. They’re not all that hard to find if you know what you’re doing.
Burrowing owls are not uncommon here in the southwest. There’s a vacant lot several miles from here where we see them every time we drive by. They are small for an owl, maybe 9 inches (23 cm) tall with long legs. I’ll try to post a photo my brother took showing four of them outside their burrow, which is often an abandoned prairie dog den.
nice photo - really blends in, you notice?
you are right, Athena I must just need more practice looking for them
I’ve seen a bunch. But only because my wife is one of those nutzo 4th generational birders and drags me along sometimes. It’s kinda fun, but I don’t see the obsession. And before I met her, I don’t think I ever remember seeing an owl.
Yes.
I heard something, and I looked up in the tree, at the source of the sound. I didn’t see anything at first. Then, after awhile I saw something, but wasn’t sure what it was. Then he either opened his yes or looked at me, and Bingo! there he was.
I have seen a few over the years in both New England and Colorado but not that often because I don’t look for them and I don’t generally pay much attention. I don’t think I have ever seen a Bald Eagle in the wild however even though they aren’t all that rare these days. If you want wild turkeys though, I have got you covered. They run around in my yard like they own the place.
Here’s the photo my brother took. This is south of Albuquerque.
ooh, I see those on fb all the time, they are adorable.
Oh, yeah.
We have those cuties out here, too.
You have tiny elf owls as well! I’ve never seen one of those. They sometimes make their home in a saguaro cactus.
I’ve seen bunches that were captive, but only two in the wild. They fly much more ungangily than I imagined. One looked like someone had thrown a cat across the road.
Probably a couple of dozen. I hear 'em all summer yelling back and forth, though. Most of the ones I’ve seen are Great Horned or Eastern Screech owls, but did see a Snowy at Logan Airport in Boston, once.
About 6 years ago, I had an injured owl trapped on my deck. I had to call animal control to come get it.
We have a screech owl in our backyard but have never seen him. The only owl I’ve ever seen I real life was at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.
that’s what I meant when I posted “Great White” which I now remember is actually a shark. :smack:
but huge, omg that silent white owl was really big :eek:
Really? I stopped even paying attention to them in Colorado, they were THAT common.
I’ve seen several at a distance. I saw one real up close when I was 15. Out in the woods behind our house I looked up and an owl was perched on a branch just a little higher than my head.
Quite a few, but I have the advantage of working evenings ;). Great Horned Owls and Barn Owls are particularly common where I work. I once had a GHO land about 7 or 8 feet from me on a light fixture on an elevated catwalk. I think I was backlit and it didn’t realized I was standing there frozen for a few minutes.
But my favorite encounter was with a Barred Owl that I ran into in a South Carolina swamp. It was broad daylight, but the undergrowth in this one section was so thick and dark it was like walking into a swampy cave at twilight. I stepped into this area and ten feet away was this owl sitting out in the “open” and regarding me balefully. It then made this particularly disturbing-sounding hoot and took off, flying about just a few feet in front me into the depths of this stygian swamp. It was all extremely gothic :D.
