Happy Christmas And Owls

We already got a foot of snow last week that's still around, but right now it's lightly snowing again - A treat to see on Christmas Eve Day.

It's going to really be a HARD Christmas for SO MANY people. I feel really blessed for what I have this year.

Last night after getting in from visiting my daughter and her family for Christmas, hubby and I saw an owl in a tree in our backyard. I think it was a Screech Owl or maybe a Barred Owl (we could only see it's silhouette) as it didn't have "horns" like others I've seen around here at night.

Iowa has 11 Owl species.

Eastern Screech Owl, Megascops asio
Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus
Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus
Northern Hawk-Owl, Surnia ulula (A)
Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia (C)
Barred Owl, Strix varia
Great Gray Owl, Strix nebulosa (A)
Long-eared Owl, Asio otus
Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus
Boreal Owl, Aegolius funereus (A)
Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus

This one was on the medium to small side esp. compared to the large Great Horned Owl I saw once late at night sitting on the neighbor's fence that's close to our storage shed. It was huge and there was complete silence when it took off on flight.