I had a lovely evening out with a friend last night and spotted my first Great Grey Owls of 2021. There were also a ton of ptarmigan out but we passed on them in search of the Great Grey.
There is a relatively short window in which to photograph Great Grey owls so I do my best to take every opportunity to get out and observe them in the wild. We are so very lucky to be able to watch these amazing birds in action in the wild.
Great grey owls are the largest owl in Canada however size doesn’t equal strength. Perhaps a more accurate description would be that the Great Grey is the fluffiest owl in North America. The Great Horned Owl weighs more than the Great grey by 300g just over a half a pound, GGO average 1.1kg while GHO averages 1.4kg. Great Grey owls also have less powerful talons compared to the Great Horned Owl.
Great Grey feed almost exclusively on mice and voles where the Great Horned Owl can hunt significantly larger prey such as Snowshoe hares, ducks, and geese.
I hope to have more encounters with the Great Grey in the coming weeks and look forward to sharing my photos with you.