Boreal Owls are difficult for birders to tally in the lower 48 states. Northern Minnesota has a few, but I took many serious birders to see them in Alaska. For several years I conducted research on them, looking at life history, population changes, and ways to census them. I typically had over 200 nest boxes out, so I would regularly get over 50 nesting pairs per year.


Adult female watching me closely.



30-day-old fledgeling owlet.



Mother owl in nest box with 10-day-old chicks and lots of food stored. Mostly red-backed voles.



Skull of boreal owl showing ear openings. On the left. ear opening high and behind the eye. On the right, ear opening low and below the eye (asymmetrical). This helps them pinpoint prey.



Owls have little featherlets on the leading edges of flight feathers. This makes the wings super-quiet to "sneak up" on prey.

Very cool. Owls are really interesting birds for sure.

Crazy how Mother Nature “tuned” those ear opening locations.

Osky

I never open one of your threads without learning something- Thanks!

I absolutely love owls! Thanks for sharing!

Lefty -

I used to always blow a mouth call a few times from inside my sleeping bag (without a tent) wherever I was camped. I clearly remember several times through the years being hit and having a punctured bag from owls. Always exciting. I've still got a scar on one arm from a great-horned owl talon. Never, ever heard them coming.

Nice shots, Jack.

Always love owls. Ive been hearing a pair lately , in evenings but also in afternoons, one has a lower call than the other. They take turns singing their duet together. I dont know what they are. But always great to hear them.

Sharon you are amazing!!!!

When I was mist netting to band American woodcock all it took was to get a scarbidae ( June beetle) in the net and with their wing flutter next thing was either a Boreal or a Saw-whet and they can sure pull a lot of net into their claws.
What I did notice was there was no inside ladder for the owls in the interior

I like the pic where mama has stored up some groceries for the young ones.

Thanks for posting those pics, such a cool bird.

Awesome pictures

And Artwork

When I first started archery hunting 40 something years ago, I would be camouflaged from head to toe. I mean the only thing showing was my eyes. That almost cost me one evening in the stand. An owl flew up about 50yds from me and as I was watching it, I noticed it eyeing me. I didn’t think much about it until it launched! Luckily I threw my hands up at the last minute to avoid what I’m sure wouldn’t be a very good outcome. What I’ll always remember is from the time it launched and flared at the last minute, I NEVER heard a sound. It was so eerie afterwards I almost wondered if I’d imagined it, lol.
I’ve made it a point now to leave a little more uncovered and still find it so cool when one flies by and never hear them. Amazing creatures!!

I read recently that the newer-generation wind turbines have blades with some sort of "feathers" on their leading edges (copied from owl feathers) which really quiets them down. Makes sense to me...

Owls freak me right out. I bump into a few every year while deer hunting and trapping. Really creeps me out looking up into the trees and there’s an owl 20 yards away staring at me.

Don’t look at me just don’t don’t don’t!

I had this one perched on my shovel handle standing in the yard one cold morning.
A few days later I rescued him from a couple a ravens that had him pinned down on the ground in front of my chicken coop in a bad storm, they circled a few feet above him until I scared them away.
I let him rest there, and later he took off.

Neat shot, Jeff. Thanks, JK.

Jack. Last evening,with dusk coming on soon, I saw an owl fly right up to the window and attempted to land on the log beam that expands across the porch roof. It changed its mind and flew into the trees . My rabbits had been happily foraging for some seed under my birdfeeder. Of course they scattered and took shelter. I went out to the treeline and couldn't locate it, but there were typical hissing calls from more than a couple of young fledglings from the depths of the boughs.

Get all the mice they want, but leave my rabbits alone !

Love getting out before light and sounding off with a barred owl call when turkey hunting. Almost always gets the owls a rocking and rolling. Many times have to move just to hear a turkey in all that racket.
Once had an owl follow me around the woods tooting on that call. Must've thought I was cute or something, lol.

Then there was that time a screech owl let off just above the missus one night while coon hunting. She ain't cared for coonhunting ever since.