Spotted Owl Pair

by Judi Dressler

Title

Spotted Owl Pair

Artist

Judi Dressler

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

I had heard that there was a pair of Spotted Owls near a trail, while on a trip to Arizona. It was about a mile and a half's walk, so I set off with crossed fingers, hoping to find them. After about the right distance, I looked everywhere, and was just beginning to think they may have flown or were too hidden, when I looked up to see them looking down at me! Heart racing, I pulled out my camera, only to see that they had gone back to sleep. "Just another human, yawn...". :) Finally, one of them opened their eyes, and I got this image.

In the 1990s the Spotted Owl was catapulted into the spotlight over logging debates in the Pacific Northwest. This large, brown-eyed owl lives in mature forests of the West, from the giant old growth of British Columbia and Washington, to California's oak woodlands and the steep canyons of the Southwest. The owl itself seems anything but fierce: it has a gentle look, and it preys mostly on small mammals inside the forest. Its deep hooting calls carry far on still nights, especially in southwestern canyons where they may echo for more than a mile. Despite federal protection beginning in 1990, the owl is still declining in the Northwest owing to habitat loss, fragmentation, and competition with Barred Owls.

Photo taken on May 3rd, 2017, in Arizona

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Descritive keywords and tags for this image include spotted owls, owls, owl pair, owl couple, pair, tree, male and female, female and male, predators, birds of prey, raptors, bough, strix occidentalis, strigidae, birds, wildlife, wild, arizona, dressler, and judi dressler.

Uploaded

January 21st, 2021

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