I'd appreciate feedback on this identification. I first saw this bird flying (in the middle of a sunny day) from a distance of several hundred feet, and (without binoculars) assumed it was a Sharpshinned or Cooper's Hawk. I watched it alight in the top of a pine tree behind my cabin (on acreage out of town). Several minutes later I got the binoculars and was surprised to see it was an owl (the bird allowed me to get fairly close). It had very distinct dark, somewhat vertical stripes on either side of the face, and no visible ears. I could not see the length of its tail, but in flight it was 'fanned out'. So it's a tame, diurnal, earless owl with distinct facial markings, the size of a smaller accipiter. Could this be anything other than a Hawk Owl?



Thanks



Birch Berman

Winthrop, WA

mailto: birchb at methownet.com