This afternoon I spent a couple hours on some property between Havillah and Chesaw, Okanogan County, Washington State, USA. I was hoping to find a Great Gray Owl. The daughter of the owner had arranged for permission for me to go on the land and she told me she had seen one just about 6 weeks before and they were seen there frequently since she was a child.
I did not see or hear and owl and was just heading back to my car when I saw a stump with what at first looked like whitewash over it. I thought at first that it must be the favorite roost of some large bird. But, when I got close, I saw that the white that I was seeing was feathers. The size of the feathers made me fear the worst and when I found the leg with talons, it strengthened my fear that this was a Great Gray Owl carcass.
Take a look at these photos and let me know what you think. You can click on them to see the full size photo on Flickr.
The largest of these feathers measured 11 1/2 inches and the smallest was 6 1/2 inches. I have other photos of scattered feathers if that would help in the ID.
Here is a video of a live Great Gray Owl that I thought you might enjoy.
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October 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The consensus is that this is probably the remains of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.