I've done a bit of banding and other nest work on great grays in Alaska. Yes Tatiana, I agree that your birds (based on that photo) sure appear to be much paler than ours here in N.A. Northof50, that's an interesting factoid; I had no idea the the great gray was officially the Manitoba Provincial bird. Based on what you and others submit, it's rare that I don't learn something from this Photo Phriday pretty much every week. Thanks!

Gulo the red herring is the eyes as most owls reflect so much of the flash as red
the non feathered talons must put it out of the cold temperate climates of ours
so how is the leaning to the Eurasian Scops owl Otus scops

That red eyed bird looks more like a merlin or small accipiter?

I agree, but I've never seen anything like that here. Looks almost like a miniature buzzard or harrier The fuzzy shins are peculiar. All our owls have feathered feet, except the scops owl (very rare here), which is tiny and very differently colored. I give up!

Our most common owl is the short-eared owl. In August, juveniles gather in large numbers on gravel country roads to catch insects and voles, and many get killed, because they just stay and stare when they see headlights. This is a good opportunity to photograph them. They're also active in daylight hours, and there are plenty of them in the forest-steppes stretching towards Kazakhstan.

Saw Whet Owl

I have never banded any owls, so this will have to do for my entry today. This is a painting I did just over 40 years ago of a Prairie Falcon aerie. It was from a photo taken by the late Ron Austing, a noted raptor photographer. He got the shot in Utah, if memory serves me correctly. Sorry the photo isn't centered well.

I had some quail killed one night so I put a cage trap out the next day. I was expecting a coon or possum in the trap, but was surprised with this Great Horned Owl instead.

The screech owls were in the hedge row behing my house. Taken through my living room window at night.

Was walking in to hunt elk one early morning and had to walk a trail in dark timber, stopped because it was to dark to walk a portion of the trail near a fenced spring head. It was steep with a bunch of rocks poking out of the trail and I did not need to fall. I'm waiting by the fence of the spring and look over and think to myself "why did they leave that post so tall.
About that time the "post" top turned around and showed the face of a great grey owl. Cool I think to myself, then it turns it head back and extends it's wings and flies off pumping it's wings instead of gliding.

It is dang spooky being 5 feet from a bird that big and NOT be able to hear it make a sound leaving.

This is my favorite.

It is always interesting on names; the Great Gray owl Strix nebulesa
some pages call it the Great grey owl but the AOU has the above.
Between Bob Nero and his first Phd student Jim Duncan have probably banded the most Great Gray Owls in NA
Bob took an orphaned owl and collected every feather to document molt patterns of these birds, it was once thought who would die first some 18 years later, but Bob is well into his 90's as far as I know and as Grayling is concerned, "where is my mouse-squeek--master"

If anybody's interested, the "mystery" owl I posted a picture of, is a brown boobook, AKA brown hawk-owl, AKA oriental hawk-owl, AKA Ninox scutulata from SE Asia. The photo was taken in extreme southern Far Eastern Russia back in 1993 in Kedrovaya Pad Reserve.

Jack

Thank you, Jack, I was wondering what that one was.