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Great Grey Owl
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This is our largest Owl, the Great Grey Owl is dark grey overall interspersed with bars and flecks of light grey and white.
When perched, they appear very bulky because they have a dense, fluffy plumage and long wings that extend past the body along with a relatively long tail, and a very large head. The size of the head and the prominent facial disk make the yellow eyes appear small. The feet are heavily feathered and remain hidden from view.
Although the Great Grey Owl appears to be quite large, they are mostly feathers, they usually weigh in at around 1 to 1.5 kilos or about half the weight of its smaller cousin, the Snowy Owl.
Great Grey Owls fly with slow, silent wing beats. They fly close to the ground, usually less than 5 meters high, except when flying to their nest. They can be very aggressive near the nest and care should be taken. The Great Grey Owl likes to nest in thick cover.
The Great Grey Owl has a distinctive call which is a very soft "whooo ooo ooo ooo" with the notes spaced over a 6 to 8 second period. Calls are repeated over and over. This call is used as a territorial declaration and can be heard up to half a km away under good conditions. Territorial calling begins after dusk and peaks before midnight.
When threatened, a Great Grey Owl will snap its beak loudly, spread its wings and growl, if you do not back off, it might even attack you.
Although a very large Owl, small rodents are their primary prey with voles being the most important food. Other mammals taken include rats, mice, shrews, squirrels and weasels. Birds are rarely captured but do include Crows, Robins, Ducks and Grouse.
In the far north, the Great Grey frequents coniferous forests along the edge of the Artic tree line. Nesting habitat usually includes copses or islands of aspens within pure stands of conifers. Most foraging is done in open areas such as swamps, bogs, and forest clearings where there are scattered forestation that can be used as perches.
During migration they may be found in estuaries, mountain meadows, and along farm fields.
I have had the pleasure of observing the Great Grey Owl on three occasions, twice in the Campbell river area and once along the Nasko River up in the Chilcotin area. A very impressive bird to observe.
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