Recently I was leading a couple groups to northern Minnesota to see winter finches and northern owls. On both trips we were successful in seeing a number of different winter specialty species such as Evening Grosbeak, Pine Siskins, Common Redpoll, and White-winged Crossbills. We were also in search of northern owl species such as Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa). On both trips we were successful at seeing at least one Great Gray Owl.
The Great Gray Owl is the tallest or longest owl species but despite their overall height, they are not the heaviest or most powerful of the owls in North America. That award would go to the Snowy Owl and to the Great Horned Owl. Both of these owls have larger and more powerful feet / talons than the Great Gray. Despite their overall size, the Great Gray Owl only weighs 2.5 pounds compared to the Great Horned Owl at 3.5 pounds and the Snowy Owl at 4.5 pounds.
One evening we watched a Great Gray Owl hunting just before sunset. It would perch on impossibly small twigs at the tops of trees. It would look down intently looking and listening. I took this opportunity to educate this group about what looks like a seemingly simple behavior of looking and listening for its prey.