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Thread: Great Grey Owl Stittsville

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    Default Great Grey Owl Stittsville

    Has anyone heard of the great grey owl in the stittsville area near the trans canada trail... I love owls and any opportunity to see them is great ....thank you in advance
    Joyce

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Hi Joyce,

    As you may know, birders in the Ottawa area are VERY SECRETIVE when it comes to owls. It could take lots of prying to get details from them - and unfairly especially if they know you are a photographer. This is the first I've heard of there being a Great Grey Owl in the Stittsville area. The best advice I could tell you is to go there and scout the area. GGOs are very conspicuous and should be easy to spot if there is indeed one.

    Since you're talking about Stittsville I assume you are in the Ottawa area. If so, here is another thread that could have some good info for you in regards to owls in and around Ottawa:

    http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=54326

    Good luck! Keep us posted if you do find anything ;).

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    BPN Member Paul Lagasi's Avatar
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    Secretive is the word...I know of 1, Great Gray Owl that has been seen in the area of Stittsville, Richmond, North Gower....lolol...I know its a big area but thats all the info I've been able to get...I was away for a week, hopefully next week I'll be able to scout around and see if its still around...

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    Wilson Hum
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    Last winter I was probably only a handful of people who knew the location of a Great Gray Owl. As well, this year I had the good fortune to find some nesting Long-eared Owls and young right here in Ottawa and likely the only one to have photographed them...well, except for the very few birders I have shared it with.

    However, I do share other findings such as the 4 to 5 pairs of Pied-billed Grebes at the Minto Avalon housing division along Aquaview Drive in Orleans, Ontario (east end of Ottawa). Each pair had a family of between 3 to 4 young ones.

    The Minto Avalon housing division storm management ponds where the Pied-billed Grebes are located is bordered on the one side by Lake Point road and on the other side by Brockstone Crescent and Silverado Crescent (google aquaview ottawa). I usually park along Aquaview near Silverado and walk across the street to the ponds.

    This is basically where everyone locally is photographing the Pied-billed Grebes. They are extremely close to shore so close-up photos are quite easy. This location is not a secret as an article about the Pied-billed Grebes at that location was published in the local paper, the Ottawa Citizen last year if I recall. They have been there for a couple of years now and offer great photos ops from Spring into Summer. Enjoy :-)
    Last edited by Wilson Hum; 07-05-2010 at 09:32 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux View Post
    Hi Joyce,

    As you may know, birders in the Ottawa area are VERY SECRETIVE when it comes to owls.
    Any particular reason why so?

    I thought owls such as Great Grey and Snowy were quite common and easily found in Ontario and Quebec?

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    BPN Member Paul Lagasi's Avatar
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    Desmond ...
    We get maybe 5-9 Snowy Owls in the region during the winter months, not hard to find if you know where to look, Great Gray Owls seem to come in cycles, usually 1 or 2 a year then every 5 years or so, there everywhere you look ....No, not easy, lots of searching to find them...but once found, they usually stay in the same area all winter.
    There is a big void between what birders and photographers view as ethical (feeding them live mice to get better photos, around here is viewed as a no-no) its been discussed, just look for the posts I don't want to start that one again..so birders do not report Owls. So now no one is reporting Owls...

    It's a shame that even as grown-ups we can't get along...

    Theres a rumour that an area known as the Owl Woods, will be closed to anyone not a member of the Kingston Field Naturalist Club this year to control the photographers access...sheets with rules have been posted in the area...so we'll see what happens
    Hope this explains some of it...
    Last edited by Paul Lagasi; 09-24-2010 at 02:16 PM.

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