When I was a kid we had a nest of Great Horned Owls in the backyard. Saw the family many times. I think there were 2 adults and 2 babies.
I can’t remember seeing one in recent times, though.
Some friends had one on their farm, it hung out in the tree right over the driveway.
I saw it pretty often.
They thought it was cool until it almost got one of their kittens.
I’ve seen dozens. Twice while out for a walk owls almost scared the crap me. They fly low over my head from behind and I don’t know they’re there until they’re two feet from my head. They have specialized feathers that allow them to fly almost silently. They never touched me and they don’t seem to be defending a nest or anything. I don’t know why they do it, but I can imagine that if they could talk they’d say “Made you duck!”
Where I used to live (central Washington state), they were pretty common. Take a drive out in the country, and you’d see them sitting on fence posts.
Now I live in the Seattle area, and I’ve only seen one so far – it was a huge, white, and perched on the gate to my backyard. I hear them all the time, though, so they must be nearby.
On a golf course where I often play, owls are a common sight. I don’t know how many owls I’ve seen on that course.
Here in the UK, five types of owl are found in the wild. In the course of my life, I’ve seen a good number of individuals of two of the five. Tawny owls – our commonest owl; and barn owls: the barn owl is getting rarer, but it tends to be our most easily-seen owl – it’s largely white (IMO a very attractive bird), and flies and hunts in the dusk and dawn twilight, rather than the dead of night. If I have ever seen anything of our other three kinds, I don’t recollect it.
I hear a tawny owl nearly every night, but I’ve only ever glimpsed it a few times when I take the dog out at night.
The tawny is the one which approximately says “to-whit-to-whoo”, if I’m right?
I’ve got them all over the house.
Well since she put me down
I’ve got owls puking in my bed
I wish I’d see them more often, they’re so cool and weird.
I did see a barred owl on the hunt last winter. It was late afternoon and I was driving to a friend’s house, stopped at an intersection to turn left. All of a sudden this HUGE thing came zooming down from a tree on the other side of the road and just daggered his talons into the snow by the stone wall…catching a rodent, I guess. I pulled over to watch and try to take a pic but I was too far to catch anything good. He had his wings kind of spread out over the snow so I could really see the beautiful pattern of them. His back was to me but I guess he got the feeling he was being watched, and while he was scrabbling around to catch his dinner, he paused and turned his head to look at me. Definitely gave the vibe of “Do you MIND?! Trying to do something here. SHEESH.”
I’ve seen a handful. Mostly barred owls and I hear them calling to each other a lot more than I see them (Whoooo, whoooo, who cooks for youuuuu?) I also saw a snowy owl in the road (alive) once.
I’ve only seen a couple this year, both Great Horned Owls. One was sitting in a spindly little tree in the Colusa Wildlife Refuge. The other one buzzed me when I was wandering around in Los Osos Oaks near San Luis Obispo.
When I lived in San Diego there was a pair of Great Horned Owls in the canyon right outside of my apartment. Loved hearing them hooting in the evening.
I used to see Burrowing Owls in undeveloped areas in Santa Clara, but I haven’t seen any for quite a while. 
I’ve seen many, but not as many as I should, considering as I actually go out and look for them (and have a couple of owl boxes in my backyard).
Snowy owls have become almost commonplace in New England – go to the beach in the winter and you’re very likely to see one in the dunes. Short-eared owls are not common, but if you know where they regularly hunt, they are easy to find because they are active in daylight. Great horned owls are common, but can be very hard to spot because they love evergreens and blend in remarkably well for birds their size.
Barred owls often give away their location by hooting and will sometimes flush when you walk by, only to fly to a nearby tree and ignore you.
I hear screech owls often, but have seldom found one that wasn’t pointed out by a fellow birder – they’re tiny and fairly dedicated to nocturnal operations. Same thing with saw whets.
Long-eared owls are extremely scarce and/or good at hiding – I’ve only seen one.
Great grey owls are a once in a decade phenomenon; they generally stay further north, but occasionally you get a wanderer.
Sadly, Massachusetts seems to be just slightly too far north for barn owls; they occasionally show up on the south coast or on the Vineyard, but very rarely up in these parts.
Northern hawk owls tend not to get any closer than upper Vermont or New Hampshire; I’ve never seen one because apparently driving four+ hours on the off chance of seeing a bird is where I draw the line as a birder.
Owlbears are unknown in these parts, but that may just be because they have a challenge rating of 4 and most birders aren’t armed with anything more deadly than a tripod.
I saw a giant eagle owl in Africa. Frickin thing was huge. Saw a snowy owl in Barrow, AK.
Never seen one in the wild. I have heard them on camping trips.
Who dat? Who out dare? 
They are very cool birds. I’d love seeing one eventually.
I saw my first owl when I was helping a friend move. It was a barn owl, and it was in the garage she used for storage. Very pretty owl. it watched us move stuff out without ever blinking.
I saw my second owl a couple of months later. We were staying at a motel near a wilderness area. I kept hearing a dog barking, then a whistle, then another sound. About midnight I went out for a smoke and to look at the stars (we don’t see stars where we live–not really–but this was in a known dark sky area. All the lights were faint, and pointed down.) I was sitting on a bench when an owl almost flew right into my face. I think my presence surprised both of us. There was probably a routine roosting place behind me. Later, from what I saw and what I heard, I identified it as a screech owl.
Then a couple of years ago someone pointed out a Great Horned Owl on a trail where I was walking my dog. He said at first he thought it was a cat in the tree. A lot of people stopped to look, and we took pictures. I knew there were owls there because there are signs. They eat little animals whole and then barf up the fur and bones…I’d seen those on this trail. It was cool to see the actual owl. Except he seemed to be assessing the dogs that walked by for maybe his next meal? I think my dog is too big.
So that’s it, three. I am not counting the dead one we found when we were hiking in eastern Colorado.
I love owls! Here are my best favourite owl shots.
The first is a barred owl. I saw it from the car as my husband drove us along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP. I shouted, he stopped, backed up a few hundred feet, and I took as many shots as I could out of the car window. A car is a good blind!
The next shot is a long-eared owl, a nice vagrant visitor. I got the tip from our local birding email list, drove to the park it was in, and followed the stream of other excited birders. (Really there were only 3 or 4 others, but they were VERY excited). Super easy to spot, and I’m happy with the shots, I love the camouflage of his plumage against the bark of the pepper tree. There’s a weird place off I5, Mercey Hot Springs, where, for a fee (eyeroll) they’ll let you take photos of their resident long-ears.
The Central Valley NWRs are great for owls, specially in winter when the trees are bare, and spring, when you can see them on the nest, like this third one. There’s also Coyote Valley, the hayfields off Santa Teresa Blvd, especially along Laguna Rd, are great for raptors generally, and the owls come out at dusk. There’s been a few reports of western screech owls on the Santa Clara University campus, and in a city park in Los Altos.
The place to see them right now is Alviso, there’s a big church on Disk Drive called Jubilee, if you look in the open field behind it, there are a few nesting pairs. I think they’re also at San Jose airport, but of course it’s tough to get close enough to spot them.
A few summers ago we saw some breeding pairs and young at Shoreline, on the slope behind the amphitheater. I don’t think they’re around this year, though. That’s the 4th photo.
I will go owling at the slightest provocation. Any Bay Area folks want to team up? Let me know.
We had a Great Horned Owl that lived around our house for many years. We would spot him on the rail of our 2nd story deck, overlooking his (her?) domain. Very regal bird. One night I was out walking our dog when motion caught my eye. Apparently the owl had been sitting on top of our basketball goal and took flight. I never heard a sound. If I had not picked it up in my peripheral vision I never would have known he was there.
And for those wondering, the dog is a full grown boxer. He wasn’t what the owl was after!
Seen one in the wild, heard several in the wild and have seen several in various zoos.
nice photos, thanks for posting.
I hope to see more but they need to be Owls that are up late - since I am an early morning person.
luckily that happens sometimes
the older I get the more interested I get in bird watching, in general. 