How many species of owl have you seen (8 Viewers)

Larry Lade

Moderator

• Nov 3, 2005

• #1

This morning I heard a Barred Owl calling just outside our home. My wife and I went outside to see if we could locate it, but it was just too dark to be able to find it.

It got me to thinking, just how many species of owl I have seen.

Here is my list: Nine species in my home state of Missouri (MO)

Barn Owl, Maysville, MO,USA 07/20/1993
African Scops-Owl, Maasai Mara, Kenya 02/23/2004
White-faced Scops-Owl, Bogoria, Kenya 02/17/2004
Eastern Screech-Owl, St Joseph, MO,USA 04/21/1988
Great Horned Owl, St Joseph, MO,USA 09/15/1986
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, Baringo, Kenya 02/16/2004
Snowy Owl, Winston, MO,USA 12/17/1996
Barred Owl, Excelsior Springs, MO,USA 05/30/1991
Great Gray Owl, International Falls MN,USA 06/27/1989
Black-and-white Owl, Rancho Humo, Costa Rica 04/28/1999
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Dundee Ranch, Costa Rica 04/25/1999
Elf Owl, Portal, AZ,USA 05/24/1995
Burrowing Owl, Mound City, MO,USA 04/29/2005
Northern Saw-whet Owl, Maryville, MO,USA 01/29/1999
Long-eared Owl, Savannah, MO,USA 01/24/1993
Short-eared Owl, Plattsburg, MO,USA 01/22/1997
Northern Hawk Owl, Duluth, MN,USA 01/28/2005

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2005

J

James Lowther

Well-known member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #2

You're doing pretty well Larry,
I struggle with owls
have seen 4/5 british species, but none overseas (heard a couple though)
James

 

T

the bird

Carpe diem

• Nov 3, 2005

• #3

Short-eared
Long-eared
Little
Tawny
Barn

and thats it!!!! All in UK though - like Mr Lowther nothing on the continent as yet, but have heard them.

 

N

Nick-on

Well-known member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #4

Little, LEO, SEO, Barn, Tawny and Snowy in UK; Scops and Eagle in Europe and Pel's Fishing Owl in Gambia. Not enough by a long way....

Nick

 

Charles Harper

Régisseur

• Nov 3, 2005

• #5

Clements tells me I've seen 25 species, Larry, but Monroe & Sibley tell me I've seen 26. In any case, the prize is Blakiston's Fish-Owl.

Oops! No, I lie. Four of those have only been heard (including Flammulated Owl, Madera Canyon, 1980). Rats.

 

dbradnum

Well-known member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #6

In the UK:

Short-eared
Long-eared
Little
Tawny
Barn
Sooty... oops, sorry that should read Snowy 3 . It had just spent a couple of weeks sat on a container ship's smoke stack, though - not quite as white as it ought to have been!

Bring on the next Scops or Tengmalm's, and send the recent Hawk Owl over from Holland - that looks like an absolute stunner!

 

postcardcv

Super Moderator

Staff member

Supporter

• Nov 3, 2005

• #7

That's an impressive list Larry.

Like others I've only seen the obvious five in the UK - three of them are on my garden list.

 

robinm

Registered User

• Nov 3, 2005

• #8

Little, Long-eared, Short-eared, Barn and Tawny all within a short distance of home. Scops and Eagle in Spain.

Pretty pathetic really

 

Aplomado Falcon

Member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #9

Burrowing Owl, Barn Owl, Sawhet Owl, not a very large list, but it's a start.

 

hannu

Well-known member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #10

Only 10, all in Finland :
Eagle, Snowy, Tawny, Ural, Great Grey, Hawk, Pygmy, Tengmalm´s, Long-eared,
Short-eared, of which I have visited in 6 species nests.

 

Dimitris

Birdwatcher in Oz

• Nov 3, 2005

• #11

Four for me:

Scops,Barn,Long-eared and Little.All in Greece.

I heard Barking and Southern Boobook in Oz but didn't see them :C

 

S

StevieEvans

Well-known member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #12

I have all 5 english resident owls on my local patch, also Eagle Owl in N.East.
Scops & Eagle owls abroad. So thats a lowlisting 7 for me...... more please...
(Have watched Leo's mating though & Little owl mobbing Leo....)
SE

 

Iceberg slim

Fly by night

• Nov 3, 2005

• #13

i have seen a few species but would love to get to grips with more

Tawny owl
Barn owl
Little owl
S.E owl
L.E owl
Burrowing owl
Cloud forest screech owl
Oriental scops owl
Brown hawk owl
Brown wood owl
Jungle owlet
Spotted owlet
Vermiculted screech owl
Spectacled owl ...a real stunner
crested owl
mottled owl
Black and white owl

 

I

ionemosia

Well-known member

• Nov 3, 2005

• #14

Hi Larry,

Twenty-eight species so far...

Barn Owl Tyto alba
European Scops-Owl Otus scops
Pacific Screech-Owl Megascops cooperi
Eastern Screech-Owl Megascops asio
Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl Megascops watsonii
Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus
Spotted Eagle-Owl Bubo africanus
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl Bubo lacteus
Dusky Eagle-Owl Bubo coromandus
Brown Fish-Owl Ketupa zeylonensis
Brown Wood-Owl Strix leptogrammica
Tawny Owl Strix aluco
Hume's Owl Strix butleri
Mottled Owl Ciccaba virgata
Black-and-white Owl Ciccaba nigrolineata
Tawny-browed Owl Pulsatrix koeniswaldiana
Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl Glaucicium costaricanum
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Glaucidium brasilianum
Red-chested Owlet Glaucidium tephronotum
Asian Barred Owlet Glaucidium cuculoides
Jungle Owlet Glaucidium radiatum
Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia
Spotted Owlet Athene brama
Little Owl Athene noctua
Northern Saw-whet Owl Aegolius acadicus
Brown Hawk-Owl Ninox scutulata
Striped Owl Pseudoscops clamator
Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus

and two only glimpsed so not yet on the list. The first of these has proved something of a blocker and I really should make more effort with it since LEO isn't difficult in the UK.

Northern Long-eared Owl Asio otus
Pearl-spotted Owlet Glaucidium perlatum

Quite fancy a trip to Scandanavia to pick up some of the species Hannu listed.

Iain

 

Larry Lade

Moderator

• Nov 3, 2005

• #15

How could I forget to include the Northern Hawk Owl in my list! I went up to Minnesota this past January (they were having an "owl invasion" from the north country) with that one being one of my target birds. I had a list of eight target birds I wanted to get. I did get four of them (X), so I guess 50 percent is not too bad!

X Northern Hawk Owl
X Sharp-tailed Grouse
X Boreal Chickadee
X Evening Grosbeak
Boreal Owl (aka. Tengmalm's)
Spruce Grouse
Bohemian Waxwing (I know all you guys have this one!)
Gray Partridge

 

Larry Lade

Moderator

• Nov 3, 2005

• #16

Charles Harper said:

Clements tells me I've seen 25 species, Larry, but Monroe & Sibley tell me I've seen 26. In any case, the prize is Blakiston's Fish-Owl.

Oops! No, I lie. Four of those have only been heard (including Flammulated Owl, Madera Canyon, 1980). Rats.

Click to expand...

Charles, which owl did Monroe & Sibley give you which Clements didn't?

 

Larry Lade

Moderator

• Nov 3, 2005

• #17

(13) Hawk-Owls & (1) Hawk Owl (no hyphen)

I found out something interesting while investigating my database for the owls I have seen. There are "Hawk-Owls" and then there is "Hawk Owl". Apparently, there is only one "Hawk Owl". It is the Northern Hawk Owl which I omitted in my initial post. (I have since included it in that post.)

From Clements I find that there are thirteen (13) "Hawk-Owls" and one "Hawk Owl".

 

brianfm

Botanical Birder

• Nov 3, 2005

• #18

Tawny/UK
Barn/UKand Namibia
Long EaredUK and Romania
Short eared/UK
Litttle/UK
Eagle/UK and Spain
Scops/Spain
Great Horned/Canada
Verreauxs/Zambia
Pels/Botswanaand Zambia
Spotted Eagle/Namibia
White Faced Scops/Botswana
Pearl Spotted/Namibia
African Scops/Namibia

Quite a few when I start to count.

 

James Eaton

Trent Valley Crew

• Nov 3, 2005

• #19

here's from what I can think of, probably missed a few, there isn't a better moment in birding than spotlighting an owl. Though Frogmouths and Nightjars are up there with them.

Tawny
Short-eared
Long-eared
Little
Eurasian Scops
Sulawesi Scops
http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/s...result&Bird_ID=656&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1
Philippine Scops
Oriental Scops
Collared Scops
Wallace's Scops
Moluccan Scops
Flores Scops
Giant Scops
http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/s...result&Bird_ID=648&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1
Reddish Scops
Elegant Scops (possibly split into two species)
Sangihe Scops
Mountain Scops
Mindanao Scops
White-fronted Scops (personal favourite)
http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/s...result&Bird_ID=649&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1
Speckled Boobook
moluccan Boobook
Northern Boobook
Brown Boobook
Cinnabar Boobook
Southern (Timor) Boobook
Sumba Boobook (another favourite)
http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/s...result&Bird_ID=627&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1
Little Sumba Boobook
Philippine Boobook
Sulawesi Masked
Barn
Javan Owlet
Asian Barred Owlet
spotted Owlet
Jungle Owlet
Spotted Eagle
Eurasian Eagle
Barred Eagle
Brown Fish
buffy Fish
Chinese Tawny
Great Grey
Great Horned
Snowy (my first ever owl!)
Burrowing

I've seen about 45 species. Hopefully the list will be bumped up by at least 10 in the next month after a trip over to the neotropics.

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2005

prairiemerlin

registered guy

• Nov 4, 2005

• #20

Mine's pretty poor compared to some, but here goes:

1. Snowy Owl - the first owl I ever saw
2. Eastern Screech Owl
3. Long-eared Owl
4. Great-horned Owl
5. Short-eared Owl
6. Barred Owl
7. Great-gray Owl

And I am hot on the trail of Saw-whet. This morning, I saw exactly where one had been 24 hours earlier - I could even see its pellets and droppings. So frusterating!!!