Great Grey Owl, the Phantom of the North

This Great Grey Owl was photographed at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta BC. The great grey owl is a very large owl with underparts that are light with dark streaks; the upper parts are grey with pale bars, and its the world’s largest species of owl by length. Called the Phantom of the North, it is distributed across the northern hemisphere. It has incredible hearing with the largest facial disc of any raptor which allows it to detect prey from over 100 meters away.

This Great Grey Owl recently took up residence in an out of bounds area at the refuge, behind the administration building. This area is similar to what the Owl would normally reside in,which is the dense boreal and coniferous forests, with an adjoining open area like a bog, or meadow. Most Great Gray Owls are nonmigratory but in certain years due to shortage of food in their normal areas they may become nomadic and travel as far south as southern Canada and the northern United States to hunt for food. On this day the Great Grey Owl was not spotted until late in the day when it was located low to the ground in a willow tree adjacent to its favorite meadow. It pruned itself for about an hour ignoring the constant harassment from a group of crows, which eventually gave up.

Great Grey Owl with Vole

The Great Grey Owl hunts mainly during early morning and late afternoon, especially during winter, but will also hunt during other daylight hours and at night. They are often seen perched on poles or fence posts along roads. Once it came out to hunt in the meadow it positioned itself on a post and moved it head around listening for movement in the field.When hunting, a Great Grey Owl will use a perch to “sit and wait”. You knew that it located something once it bent over with its tail feathers up in the air and in an instant it launched itself onto the ground and return to a nearby nest box with a plump vole, while still on the constant look out for those pesky crows.