Great Gray Owl Invasion of winter 2004-2005 in the surrounding Ottawa area. Photo Gallery by golfpic at pbase.com

Great Gray Owl Invasion of winter 2004-2005 in the surrounding Ottawa area.

Thanks for visiting. This gallery has over 54,000 views. One of the best resources on the web about Owls can be found here: http://www.owlpages.com

Great Gray Owl	Thud!!!	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Birders and photographers (My comments)
In typical raptor behaviour the Great Gray owl spreads its wings to hide its prey from other predators	While fireplaces keep some of us warm on cold days the Great Gray owl is quite comfortable in the winter environment	Great Gray Owl		A Great Gray Owl surveys the winter landscape
A photographer sets up despite freezing temperatures	Great Gray Owl		Great Gray Owl plunges toward snow covered ground	Camouflage. A Great Gray Owl blends into the surrounding environment.
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl -- A quick bite dispatches the mouse.	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl flying with mouse in beak	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Smile	Great Gray Owl
	Great Gray Owl	The Catch -- Part 1	The Catch -- Part 2	Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl	A Family Affair	Great Gray Owl		Great Gray Owl
	Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl		Great Gray Owl		Great Gray Ghost
	Look up. Look waaaaay up.	Father and son.	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl
You can tell she is a serious bird photographer. That is a Better Beamer flash extender on top of the camera.	Great Gray Owl. "Blue"	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl night shot
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Who's your daddy!!	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl with catch
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl sunset	Great Gray Owl	A very young birder.
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl		Great Gray Owl - Smile
Great Gray Owl. The not so amazing race.	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray feather
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl feather		Two Great Gray Owls
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl --- "Become the Tree"	Great Gray Owl with catch	A couple enjoying the Great Grays on March Valley Road.
Great Gray Owl --- Wink.	Great Gray Owl listening for prey	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl
A visitor from Newfoundland	Great Gray Owl at sunset	Fingers	Great Gray Owl	Close up. The Great Grays are quite tame as far as owls go and will allow people to get quite close.
Great Gray Owl --- I can see you	Looks like dinner in its talons	Great Gray Owl hears something below	Great Gray Owl and vole catch	Great Gray Owl and vole in beak
Great Gray Owl prepares to dive into snow	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl peeking out from behind branches	Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl against building	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl encounter in the air	Great Gray Owl encounter in the air	Great Gray Owl encounter in the air
Great Gray Owl encounter in the air	Great Gray Owl. And the winner is.	A young owl watcher on March Valley Road	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl plunges toward ground	Great Gray Owl impacts ground head and feet first	Great Gray Owl in flight	Drops of blood forming on its fur the vole is helpless in grasp of the Great Grays powerful talons.	Great Gray Owl
Moon Owl	Great Gray Owl hunting in field	Great Gray Owl takes off from hoar frost covered tree	Great Gray Owl dives head first for vole	Great Gray Owl - taken right after it ate a vole
Great Gray Owl with vole	Great Gray Owl peers from behind foliage	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill
Great Gray Owl - View to a kill	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill	Great Gray Owl - View to a kill
Great Gray Owl	"Oh, oh. I see another of those owl photographers coming. Think quick."	"Got it! Pretend I am asleep."	"I hear a mouse on the other side."	"Dang owl instincts. I had to turn my head didn't I? The gig is up."
I am NOT a happy owl.	Bored	A couple of young birders attempt the low approach to a Great Gray owl perched in a tree to the right.
Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl hunting	Sharp bloody talons	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl perched on ice-covered branches
Aging a Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl	Great Gray Owl with prey	Great Gray Owl with prey	Great Gray Owl making room for more
Great Gray Owl peers out from its wintry perch	Great Gray Owl sitting by the side of a very busy road in eastend of Ottawa (2006)	Great Gray Owl sitting by side of road watching all the cars go by (2006)	Great Gray Owl

comment |

Jennifer		20-Nov-2007 12:49
These are beautiful pics of a wondrous bird. I saw one for my first time just just four days ago in Lincoln, MI while hunting in the Huron National Forest. About 9 a.m., cloud cover, no snow, and wind. He swooped in and sat no more than 6 feet away from where I was in my hunting blind, about 12 feet off the ground on a tree branch. What an experience!!!

Guest		16-May-2007 17:05
Some wonderful images here, congratulations! Ron Green/www.avianpix.com

ThomasR		28-Apr-2007 11:06
Outstanding! Breathtaking!

henrywong		21-Feb-2007 08:15
Wonderful gallery, thanks for the sharing! Voted!

Monte Dodge		20-Feb-2007 15:53
voted,, what a very nice collection here..

Guest		19-Feb-2007 21:47
Skill and patience fall together - great!

Guest		14-Feb-2007 12:40
Beautiful gallery of the beautiful bird

Guest		04-Feb-2007 19:57
Remarquable présentation d'une séance de prises de vues avec une vedette extraordinaire "Great Gray Owl " ! Bravo

Stan		26-Jan-2007 17:03
Amazing. I envy you!! Happy for your skills!!!

PiJoly		20-Jan-2007 03:57
Vraiment époustouflant et remarcable BRAVO!

Guest		07-Jan-2007 03:16
Terrific pictures!!!

Tim van Woensel		19-Dec-2006 07:44
Fantastic and big gallery!

Guest		26-Nov-2006 14:44
excellent gallery, all your pics are wonderful,v.

Jean Chiasson		14-Nov-2006 02:25
Remarkably gallery bravo vote

Marco Valk		12-Nov-2006 20:48
exceptional gallery; vote

Rob & Amy Lavoie		21-Oct-2006 23:55
outstanding shots here, well done

Guest		08-Oct-2006 22:34
I just can't beleive these pictures! Wow!!!

Guest		17-Sep-2006 15:06
Very nice! Beautiful images and a great mixture of birdphotos and photos of birders!

Kat		28-Jul-2006 12:08
Beautiful gallery! Thank you for sharing these with everyone.

Sohail Bajwa		07-May-2006 22:24
Wow,Excellent Gall

Sam X		05-May-2006 19:59
excellent gallery, geat shots and detail

Guest		01-May-2006 18:13
Great shots! Thank you for sharing. Vote!

shubs		29-Apr-2006 11:06
nice pics!!!!

C.C.		10-Apr-2006 03:52
Thanks for posting, nice photos.

J.		20-Mar-2006 05:58
What delightful creatures—& a bit intimidating, too! Those eyes! (I mean the BIRDS.)

guest of switzerland		03-Feb-2006 23:54
absolument fabuleux! Quelles belles photos et quel photographe doué! Un plaisir de voir ces images...

Ashley Hockenberry		10-Jan-2006 19:19
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guest		18-Dec-2005 14:20
Very beautiful gallerie for those beautiful birds. The pic with the two owls facing is stunning.

Guest		15-Dec-2005 11:37
Great site, i love your photos, just beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing Magnifique prise de vue, nous avons aussi eu une invasion de chouette lapone à Québec l'hiver dernier. Regards, Christian Chevalier

lou_rozensteins		31-Oct-2005 11:22
An excellent gallery of owls .... it's interesting to see the photographers with their equipment and differing techniques.

carol westgate		07-Aug-2005 20:19
brilliant photography. wish i could get results like you. well done

Tom Munson		05-Aug-2005 14:51
Fantastic Gallery, great shots. Wish I had been there.

Guest		22-Jul-2005 19:10
I happened upon your gallery when the Moon Owl picture was on the PBase homepage. What fabulous shots. I've only seen one owl live but they have been a favourite of mine. You've got my vote.

Guest		13-Jul-2005 16:57
Great site, love your photos, just beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing. Jimmie

Guest		27-Jun-2005 17:26
Thanks for the great gallery. I've never seen an owl in the wild. Very impressive.

Temple Treasures		16-Jun-2005 15:35
WOW what Fantastic photos of such a wonderous bird. Owls have always been a favorite bird of mine and after seeing your beautiful photos I love them all the more. You have truely capture the heart and soul of this wise and silent creature of the night. Thank you for sharing your photos. Cyndi

Guest		15-Jun-2005 07:41
Spectacular gallery with collection of professional shots. Canada reveals lots of excellent photography resources ... Cheers from France. zian [ My Pbase galleries ]

Daniella T.		14-Jun-2005 15:21
This is a fabulous gallery! Too hard to comment on each one but the one in flight and the one with the mice are awesome! You should really post some at www.naturephotographers.net it's a very friendly place for bird photographers! Not to mention that it has ton of very inspirational work.

Manfred Bachmann		26-Apr-2005 21:57
Outstanding gallerie!

Juliano Lopez		22-Apr-2005 20:15
Great gallery. Amazing captures.

CJ Max		20-Apr-2005 16:48
Your "Winking Owl" image is priceless. Great image. Very nice gallery. I enjoyed it very much.

Wayne Laubscher		20-Apr-2005 04:03
Excellent photos! They speak for themselves and capture a variety of behavior and conditions. They are a nice reminder of my three trips to southern Ontario, including Ottawa. I wish I'd been able to spend more time with the owls as you did rather than just whirlwind quick trips. It certainly a great way to weather the winter there. Thanks!

Murray Lord		20-Apr-2005 01:02
Great photos. To think I had to spend the best part of two whole nights sitting in a car beside a field in Finland to see one Great Grey Owl briefly - you've had it too easy!

joe		10-Apr-2005 16:34
Thank you for posting these pictures of the Great Grey owls. We took our kids to see them this winter and the owls (and the photos) are beautiful.

Guest		10-Apr-2005 13:21
You were so fortunate to experience these beautiful owls this winter, and we were blessed that you were able to capture and show us these amazing pictures.

Pat		10-Apr-2005 12:32
Absolutely breathtaking. Thank you for sharing

golfpic		10-Apr-2005 06:42
Carol, thanks for the kind words. The Great Grays have made this winter a very memorable one.

Carol Horner		10-Apr-2005 02:40
This is absolutely stunning collection of images. Congratulations Carol Horner

golfpic		09-Apr-2005 03:50
Thanks Steve. You have some good images of the Great Gray Owl. I'm sure it will be an experience both you and your daughter will be able to look back on fondly even years from now. I hear Minnesota (Wisconsin in particular I think) has been a very good place to see Great Grays this past winter.

Steve		01-Apr-2005 01:51
Nice shots!! I took my Da out a few weeks back in central MN and got some good shots too. But I never could get the in flight shots i desired (like yours). Keep up the good work and let me know your thoughts on mine. www.pbase.com/mrbones Steve

golfpic		01-Apr-2005 01:29
Guy, thanks for the comments. This might turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I was out there with the rest of the photographers taking in what I could while the opportunity was still there. The key was to use your time wisely by knowing when to go out to photograph them and where to go. If you found the right place you could really get some nice shots. The owl devouring the vole in the one series of shots caught two voles in the span of 15 minutes and this took place very close to where I was standing. Hey, couldn't ask for better than that :)

Guy Schmickle		31-Mar-2005 23:02
Great shots! I really love all the flight and meal time shots you've captured. Looks like you spent a fair amount of time photographing them. They sure are fascinating birds. Well done. -Guy

golfpic		30-Mar-2005 02:13
Thanks Isabel. I was just fortunate they came for a visit near our city :)

golfpic		30-Mar-2005 02:11
Thanks rjhall. I had never seen anything like this before either so it was certainly a thrill for me too.

isabel		24-Mar-2005 18:16
Fantastic pictures! Amazing! wow ! Congratulations!

rjhall		21-Mar-2005 02:03
Amazing! I absolutely loved the dive shots and the aerial grapple between the two owls. What an exceptional chronicle of an exceptional invasion year!

golfpic		28-Feb-2005 23:50
Burl1201, I appreciate your heartfelt words. Thanks again.

Burl1201		28-Feb-2005 16:15
Amazing gallery! Your pictures are astounding! My heartfelt congratulations!

golfpic		26-Feb-2005 02:37
Douglas, thank you for leaving a comment about the gallery.

golfpic		26-Feb-2005 02:35
Thanks for the kind words Kim.

golfpic		26-Feb-2005 02:33
Thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment Tammie. It's really appreciated. Until this winter I had never seen any Great Gray owls so this is truly a treat. The aerial encounter was quite something to behold and glad I was able to capture it.

golfpic		26-Feb-2005 02:30
Thanks Brynn. As you know, these owl images were taken in the surrounding Ottawa area. Hope my email was helpful in directing you to some sites in Minnesota.

golfpic		26-Feb-2005 02:26
Thanks Roger. Appreciate the comment and vote.

Douglas Currie		23-Feb-2005 17:58
Very nice gallary, I really enjoyed looking through it.

Kim Randolph		20-Feb-2005 12:36
Super work! I enjoyed a long stroll through your gallery! Kim

tammie		20-Feb-2005 04:22
Golfpics~ I have been just astounded by this gallery! You seem to top yourself everytime I check out the new shots. What awesome captures you are getting.........I can't imagine it getting any better but it always does.....so glad I found this gallery thanks so much for sharing it. The mid air battle is something most will never witness with their own eyes...........Congrats to you for being so lucky!!

Brynn Schmidt		17-Feb-2005 23:41
Your photographs are beautiful! My husband and 5 year old son just decided to fly to Minnesota tomorrow from Colorado to try and see and photograph these owls. Any ideas on where they should go? My 5 year old loves owls more than just about anything......he has seen a barn owl and 6 great horned owls, but that is it. My husband decided to try and take him to find more. Thanks.

Roger McCallen		16-Feb-2005 11:40
I think this gallery is just fabulous. You have my vote!. I am from Ontario as well, where are you taking these pictures, I would love to visit this location

golfpic		13-Feb-2005 11:36
Thanks Gary. These owls are spectacular and it has been a real priviledge to be able to photograph them.

G.M. Hattrup		13-Feb-2005 03:56
Spectacular, absolutely spectacular. Thanks for sharing. Gary

golfpic		09-Feb-2005 04:04
Thank you Christina. I have never seen a Great Gray owl in the wild either until this winter. I hope you will get a chance to see them one day as they are truly magificent birds and so tame. Until a few months ago I had only seen a Great Horned owl in the wild. Then suddenly I see Snowy owls, Short-eared owl, Boreal owls, Saw-whet owl, plenty of Great Gray owls and just this past weekend a Barred owl sleeping up in a tree.

Christina Craft		07-Feb-2005 23:03
Absolutely fantastic gallery - wonderful body of work. I'm jealous since I"ve never seen one of these beautiful birds in the wild.

golfpic		07-Feb-2005 06:52
Thanks Merlyn9. We certainly have been spoiled by all the Great Gray owls that have come into our area the last month or two. It is even more amazing how tame these birds are which allows for close viewing. We don't get to see many eagles up here this time of year. I sure wouldn't mind heading down to see them. Maybe we can trade places for a weekend :) I also hear there is a place in Iowa that has many Bald eagles in January.

Merlyn9		06-Feb-2005 18:33
These are Great! I'm SO envious of the owls shots I've seen from your area this year, that I am willing to give up shooting Eagle for a weekend & head North of the Border in search of the Great Grey Owl! Please keep sharing these wonderful images with us.

golfpic		02-Feb-2005 04:22
Thanks again Leo. Owl mania has been sweeping our city and province for the last month or so. I counted no less than 25+ cars parked along this one stretch of road one morning this past weekend. And that is a conservative estimate not including the vehicles that just drove by for a quick peek. Hope you get to see them soon.

golfpic		02-Feb-2005 04:16
Thanks for the kind words Cindy. I really appreciate it. I developed a real appreciation for the owls this winter with the current irruption of Great Grays in our city. I find them fascinating to watch and had the opportunity to view the rare Boreal owl up close. I hope you get the chance to see the Great Grays in your state as I hear northern Michigan is having quite the invasion this winter as well.

golfpic		02-Feb-2005 04:11
Hi keithf. Thanks for the comment. The best way to find where the owls are located is to check with your local birder groups. They usually have the latest sightings. You can subscribe to OntBirds an email list at www.ofo.ca I wish you good birding.

Guest		25-Jan-2005 05:01
Great gallery keep them coming. Owls are fast becoming my favorite subject yet I still haven't spotted any on my photo outings. I hope this weekend brings me more luck.

Cindy Mead		25-Jan-2005 00:52
excellent shots! owls are my favorite birds- we're having an irruption year here in Michigan but I haven't had a chance to get up to the U.P. yet to see them. Really enjoyed your photos and thanks for the nice comments at my own gallery :)

Guest		24-Jan-2005 21:59
Hi Golfpic, every nice pic of the owl. I am in Toronto. I heard their have report a few of the Great Grey Owl here in Ajax area and Toronto area. I will try to find them this weekend. Any tips to find them? I don't have a long lens right now only 70-210 with 1.4 tele. I will try to get the 300 F4 (Nikon) early Feb. Keith

golfpic		18-Jan-2005 02:52
Thanks Tammie. Stay tuned, winter is just getting started here and these owls are likely to stay until March :) As for the images, all I can say is I have indeed been very fortunate. Both the Great Gray Owl and Boreal Owl normally inhabit the boreal forests much further north where they probably don't have much if any interaction with people. I suppose they haven't really developed a fear of people yet and hope it stays that way. I find that as long as you keep a certain distance from them it will be OK.

tammie		17-Jan-2005 02:22
WOW!! Everytime I check your gallery its better than before!! How awesome that you had the opportunity to capture these great shots. There was a program on last night about the Great Grays and it said they are not afraid of people. Has this been you experience with them? I really am enjoying your GG gallery......and thanks for the kind words on mine.

golfpic		16-Jan-2005 04:14
Thanks for leaving a comment Tammie. There are many sightings in eastern and southern Ontario this winter and I have heard about the invasion down in Wisconsin as well. I hope you get to see some this winter. We've met people from Pennsylvania, New York, to name just two States who have come up just to see the Great Grays and they haven't been disappointed.

tammie		15-Jan-2005 05:31
Thanks for sharing these, I've been hearing alot about the invasion in Minnesota. They sure are beautiful.

click on thumbnails for full image

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest. Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help	private comment