Owls have always been somewhat of a blind spot for me in terms of finding birds. I love owls (who doesn’t?) and spend inordinate amounts of time in their habitat, but rarely do I see these mystical birds.

It’s not that I never see them. I’ve seen the occasional barred owl and a few great-horned owls in my day, and even snowy owls a handful of times, but the sightings are few and far between.

There was a winter a few years back when everyone was seeing barred owls. I was able to see a few during that spurt. Remember the “winter of the snowy owl?” The Arctic birds were showing up everywhere along the coast and even inland. I saw three snowy owls that winter. Then there was the great gray owl that delighted birders in Newport in 2017. I saw that one too. Under “normal” circumstances, however, my owl sightings are rare.

With my actual owl sightings at a minimum, I was happy to vicariously experience a neat owl experience relayed to me by Mary Ellen of Keene. Mind you, she and her family live not far from downtown Keene.