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UPDATE: 12 owl photos captured in Greater Victoria this fall

Share your owl or other wildlife photos/videos by emailing christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca

Barred owls are out and about in abundance this fall and, with cameras in nearly every pocket, Greater Victoria residents are capturing them in some scenic settings.

The barred owl has dominated the region in owl sightings in recent generations with the first recorded on the Island in 1969.

They’re the ones most people are familiar with. They’re a large owl, easy to see you don’t need binoculars and they will hang out anywhere, from a forested area outside of town to the Central Branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library.

RELATED: ‘Tuck in ponytails’ to avoid dangerous Greater Victoria owl encounters

“They’re basically in every small park and neighbourhood in Victoria. We don’t have a real good estimate on how many there are,” said Ann Nightingale of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory.

The RPBO does a saw-whet owl banding program and occasionally catches a barred owl in the process.

This year more than 20 were counted through that process.

“So they’re around in good numbers for something that was barely here 50 years ago,” Nightingale said.

READ ALSO: Barred owls dominate Greater Victoria owl-scape

While the saw-whet is easily the most abundant owl in the region – particularly as they head south each autumn – the barred is the most visible.

RPBO is currently seeking funding to do a tracking project on barred owls to answer some of the questions about numbers, territorial range and other behaviours.

Share your owl or other wildlife photos/videos with the community. Email them to christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca.



Christine van Reeuwyk

About the Author: Christine van Reeuwyk

Longtime journalist with the Greater Victoria news team.
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