Great Gray Owl Experience
- Rich Hanlon
- Mar 21
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 24
The great gray owl who visited St. Lawrence County, NY for roughly two weeks in early March of 2025 was nothing short of amazing. I made four trips to see the bird and the first two tries I came up empty. Life’s responsibilities did not allow me to stay into the late evening hours when the owl had been most active. That second day of no great gray left me feeling a little disappointed but not defeated. I remained hopeful that I might get to see it if I could stick around later into the evening during the week that was upcoming.
The first day that I encountered it, I was in the company of a friend and fellow birder, Jack Peneston. I appreciate Jack’s photography because he has a knack for capturing those special moments when birds are at ease in their environments doing things like foraging, resting, preening, and interacting with other birds. I think it’s because of the peaceful presence that he brings to our feathered neighbors and the places they call home. There is something to be said about presenting ourselves in non-threatening ways and giving birds the space they need to feel comfortable.
Jack and I arrived at Robert Moses State Park at about 3:00pm. The six porcupines, one northern shrike, and four barred owls we saw perched in trees helped us to train our eyes for the big event. We also got to watch an otter at the marina diving into the water and then resurfacing through a tunnel in the snow. With all of these wildlife sightings (which included the hundred or so deer that live in the park) we both felt that this was an evening of exceptional good fortune. We went for a short snowshoe walk into the campground that resulted in one of our barred owl sightings. There we stood in a field at the edge of a forest of mid-successional deciduous trees. This is how Jack manifested a barred owl. No sooner did he say, “this habitat looks really good for barred owl,” that we looked right and there was a barred owl in the flesh looking right at us! Could we manifest the great gray with our words too?
When we returned to the car, we proceeded to drive slowly along the main drag on Barnhart Island just like at least 6 other cars filled with birders was doing. We rounded a turn and saw something that looked very promising; four cars parked and 5 birders with binoculars and cameras trained at a red pine 20 yards in from the road. A good sign. Sure enough, this was it! The great gray owl was silently and discretely perched on one of the main beams about 15 feet above ground close to the trunk with a few tufts of needles blocking the view of its head. The first thing I saw was the tail projecting below the branch it was perched on. I wanted to give the bird it’s space so I could watch it behave naturally at ease. I also wanted to see its face. There was a campground road covered in snow and a tree line about a football field away from where the owl was perched. Moving directly away from the location of the owl, I walked up the road, turned onto the snow-covered campground road, and then followed the edge of the forest from just inside the tree line. I found a downed tree to perch myself on and I waited. This did provide me with a look at the full 2 ½ foot body of the owl at an estimated distance of about 70 yards. I watched the owl as it turned and tilted its head to survey its surroundings.
Unfortunately, there was one photographer present who approached the owl too closely, causing it to leave that perch. Fortunately, since I was observing peacefully and respectfully in place, when the owl took off it cut the distance between us in half! Now it was perched in the low branches of a large white pine tree. There it remained for a good 20 minutes or so. When a pair of ravens flew overhead, great gray watched their behavior very intently.
About 5:30pm is when dinner time started for the great gray. We watched with great wonder as it would take flight and hover on the wing just a little before plunging its sharp taloned feet into the snow to retrieve a rodent within. I don’t blame the barred owl who behaved aggressively toward great gray. The barred owl likely lives here year-round, and the great gray is a visitor. I guess I’d have a problem too if somebody walked into my house and proceeded to raid the refrigerator without first asking permission. The barred owl and great gray exchanged vocalizations and then the barred made two bold swoops at the great gray making contact with the feathers on its head. Great gray seemed unphased by the smaller owl’s territorial aggression. Barred flew a couple hundred yards west and great gray continued to hunt in that spot.
A couple days later I returned with more birding friends. This time I had with me Southern Adirondack Audubon members and trip coordinators Tony Galligani and Emily Jipson as well as fellow Adirondack birding guide Pat Bixler. Before encountering the great gray, we enjoyed more porcupines in trees and even one very owl-shaped log stuck in a fence that we all got a kick out of. First, we made a stop at Hawkins Point Lookout where we enjoyed looks at common goldeneyes, mute swans, bald eagles, and others. Then at about 5:00pm we went in search of the great gray. It didn’t take long and this time Tony was the first one to spot it out of all of the cars full of birders who were looking. Way to go Tony!
There was a rise on the opposite side of the road from where the owl was perched, so, in an effort to observe without causing a disturbance the three of us sat on folding chairs and Therm-a-Rest cushions on top of the snow. It was a great vantage point. The great gray was perched for a while and then moved off into another tree and then deeper into the forest and out of sight with the arrival of more cars and more birders. After the better part of an hour, one by one the other cars and birders departed. Only we remained. Sitting. Waiting. While we waited the moon, bright and full, appeared through the trees above the eastern horizon. While the owl was away, we walked over to the place where we had seen it plunge into the snow and were rewarded with the discovery of great gray wing prints on snow’s surface with a talon carved hole in the snow containing the blood of a vole; the owl, in its own unique and fearsome way had left a snow angel for us to find.
It was getting dark. As we prepared to leave, Tony spotted something in the tree line. The great gray was back! The next 20 minutes were very intense with the great gray making at least five plunges into the snow and managing to procure a rodent in at least four of those attempts. It was surreal to observe the owl perched, hunting, listening for movement 50 feet away beneath the snowpack with that massive facial disc and offset ears fully engaged. As we parted ways with the wonderfully enchanting great gray owl it looked over the meadow from a lofty perch from which the silhouette of its massively feathered body was perfectly illuminated in front of a backdrop of the brightest fullest moon I can recall.
I had wanted to experience the great gray owl ever since stumbling upon a picture of it in a bird identification book when I was 12 years old. Now, 26 years later I had my encounter with this paradigm shifting bird of wonderfully enchanting presence and confident imposing gaze. These moments of sharing space with the ghost of the north created for me what was a wild, mysterious and emotionally charged environment to such a degree that I had a tough time holding the camera steady! In so many words I’ve articulated my recent time spent in the glory of great gray owl, but I feel that there was something so overwhelmingly impactful and deeply transformational that I can’t quite put a finger on it. All words will forever fall short of the significance of the encounter.
Though I can say this with confidence; I’m grateful for those friends with whom I was gifted to share the experience.
Peace to you Great Gray Owl; may you have safe travels to your breeding grounds and may your forest home flourish.
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