Surprise in the Sunset

Tonight when I got home I took a walk around the wetland behind our place. It's a beautiful evening, and the sun was just beginning to go descend into a subtle orange-pink sunset. I was walking along and heard a familiar hoot...it was the same owl I had heard one night back in March near our house (I actually heard 2 of the same owl hooting back and forth that night, and could see their silhouettes in the trees). I never did figure out what type of owl it was, but today I got to see it first hand! I walked along, looked up, and saw a great horned owl about 30 feet up in the tree! That was close enough, and it was still light enough outside, that I could definitely see the defining ear tufts. It stared at me for a few seconds, but then was greatly disinterested. I was cool to stand there and watch it, and it was pretty vocal. Its whole body would get into the hoot, and I could see it move. Probably calling out to its friend! Click "listen to the call" on this page to hear what I heard.

As I stood there, another larger bird flew into a shorter tree nearby. It had the distinct disc-shaped face of an owl. As I tried to get a better look, it let out a few screeches and then flew away - definitely an owl by the wing shape. I didn't get a great look, but it was smaller than the great horned and the face also looked a little different. It seems that I saw two different owls in one evening! What luck!