25 February 2025
After a month of pleasure over Schenley Park’s nice horned owls nest, I’m switching gears this week to seek out the owls I missed in Minnesota eleven years in the past.
Again in 2014 I attended the Sax-Zim Lavatory birding pageant throughout one of many coldest winters of the century. I had an exquisite time full of latest experiences and Life Birds however I by no means noticed my goal chicken, the good grey owl, so I’m going again this week with Frank Nicoletti as my information to seek out one.
From the highest of their heads to the tip of their tails nice grey owls (Strix nebulosa) are the world’s largest owl by size with a wingspan as much as 5 toes lengthy.
Though it seems to be extra huge than different owls of the northern forest, its precise physique mass is not less than 15% smaller than the extra frequent Nice Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), with which it shares habitat. Thus its plumage makes up a lot of the majority of the chicken, permitting it to resist the bitter chilly of northern winters.
— Birds of the World: Nice Grey Owl — emphasis added
This cross part of a taxidermied mannequin on the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen exhibits how small the chicken’s physique actually is.
To provide you an thought of their measurement, right here’s a video from the Owl Analysis Institute of banding an grownup male nice grey owl and his chicks in (in all probability) northern Montana in 2020. Observe that the male is smaller than his mate.
Maybe I’ll solely see one from a distance however you’ll be able to inform by its size that this can be a nice grey!
p.s. I checked my Life Listing once more and found I’ve by no means seen a boreal owl (Aegolius funereus). Fingers crossed for each.
