#strigimorphae

Barred owl (via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region)

Who's that hidden in the treetops? A Barred Owl is who! Though they are common to eastern forests, they are notoriously hard to spot on account of their fantastically effective camouflage. More often they are heard making their distinctive call: "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?"

Great Horned Owl (via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region)

Great Horned Owls are the only owls that have confirmed nesting on John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. They are opportunistic nesters, usually using abandoned nests from other birds, like hawks, crows, and herons, but sometimes nesting in tree cavities or on the ground. After a pair has laid eggs in the wintertime, they will aggressively defend their nest from predators with loud calls, pecking, and dive bombing!

A pair of long-eared owls perch on a tree near Hortobágy, north-east Hungary.

Photograph: Zsolt Czeglédi/EPA

A wild short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) flies straight towards the camera in Gloucestershire

Photograph: Jerome Murray/Alamy

A barn owl swoops on its prey in the Cotswolds, England

Photograph: Christopher Cook/Alamy

A wild short-eared owl in flight in Gloucestershire, south-west England.

Photograph: Jerome Murray/Alamy Stock Photo

Great Horned Owl at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge (via USFWS Mountain-Prairie)