@TillamookCoast shared this image recently on Instagram and we just can’t get enough of it, so we thought we’d share it with our viewers here as well, as our featured photo of the week.
It truly looks as if it’s a scene from a fantasy film, but this is the Northwest’s own Tillamook Forest in Oregon, and the star is a Barred Owl.
The owl in the forest
Photo credit: @tillamookcoast
According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, this owl was first spotted in the state back in the early 1970s. and it’s since spread to forested areas through much of Oregon. Although it is sometimes confused with the closely related Spotted Owl, it’s actually slightly larger, with dark eyes and no ear tufts. You can tell that it’s a Barred Owl thanks to its horizontal barring across the throat and upper breast, vertical brown streaks on the lower breast and abdomen.
Now, doesn’t it make you want to take a walk through the woods?
