Great gray owl - the phantom of the north
The Great Gray Owl is silvery gray overall — patterned with fine white, gray, brown streaking and faint barring. Across the neck sits a white "bow tie" with a black center.
(Photo courtesy JON KERBY)
A large big-headed owl with yellow eyes and a tiny bill. He often perches quietly on the edges of meadows or forest openings.
Recently we had a visitor from the north, a great gray owl was spotted in Boundary County by several adventurous birders.
The great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) is a very large owl, documented as the world's largest species of owl by length. It is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, and it is the only species in the genus Strix found in both Eastern and Western hemispheres. In some areas it is also called “phantom of the north.”
Great gray owls are silvery gray overall—patterned with fine white, gray, and brown streaking and faint barring. Their yellow eyes shine through the fine gray-and-brown concentric circles of the facial disk. Two pale arcs form an “X” between the eyes. Across the neck sits a white “bow tie” marking with a black center. Their bill, if visible, is yellow. Males and females look similar.
Detecting prey by sound, this rodent specialist can plunge into 18 inches of snow to grab mice with pinpoint accuracy. A great gray owl can dive through snow crust thick enough to support the weight of a human.
The great grays are one of our tallest owls, and have broad wings and a long tail. They are big headed owls with a large facial disk that measures 20 inches in circumference. They dwarf most other owls in size but not by weight; their bulk is mostly made of feathers that appear huge because their 3-inch-thick plumage. The female Great Gray Owls are larger than males.
Great gray owls generally do not call attention to themselves and tend to avoid areas with people. They spend their time in dense evergreen pine and fir forests with small openings, or meadows nearby and are nearly invisible despite their size. Great grays hunt at night and during the hours before dawn and dusk. They quietly fly low, on broad wings, over meadows watching and listening for small mammals.
A big nightbird, haunting woods of the far north and certain high mountains of the northwest. Its great size is partly illusion: it has very thick fluffy plumage, and its body size is smaller than it would appear.
Their diet consists of mostly small mammals. feeding mainly on voles in many areas in Northwestern United States and pocket gophers as their main prey. They also eat mice, shrews, squirrels, weasels, small birds and sometimes frogs. When there is a population crash of voles and other rodents in the Canadian boreal forest, numbers of great gray owls may drift into the northwest United States, causing excitement for birders.
In courtship, the male may feed the female and members of the pair preen the others' feathers. The great gray owl usually uses old abandoned nests of other large bird, such as goshawk, raven, osprey or sometimes nesting on top of broken-off snags or stumps. The nest site is usually 10 to 50 feet above ground. Generally, a pair will reuse the same nest for several years.
Jon Kerby has photographed this great gray several times this winter. Being a good judge of character, the owl has graciously allowed his camera to peek into its life in the wild. Thanks to Jon for sharing these rare photos.
Enjoy Boundary County and all its wildlife.
