Phantoms they call them, forest ghosts. Over the years I’d learned why first hand. Great Gray Owls are magnificent, regal birds. But they’re also silent, mysterious and appear where you least expect them and vanish just as quickly into the trees. I’d been combing this forest for days now, there were multiple Owls here and sightings were becoming more and more frequent. At times all I would see was a quick, disappearing shape through the towering pine trunks. Other times I was incredibly blessed to have minutes and occasionally even hours with these large Owls as they perched or napped on a tree branch in the dense forest. Today had been an exceptionally good day. I’d had the fortune of finding multiple Owls, the first just before the sun had risen. It was now getting to be late afternoon and I was with a different Great Gray, probably a sibling of the Owl from this morning.

This Owl was extremely active and at times it was difficult just to keep up with as it practiced its hunting skills in the thick forest. Already the size of an adult, this younger Owl was still learning how to hunt, honing the skills it would need to perfect in order to survive in this forested landscape. Sitting on a pine branch, the Owl would scan the undergrowth for any movement, any potential meal. My inferior human senses were unable to detect any sound or movement, but out of nowhere the Owl would launch from its perch, silently float through the air for a brief moment and then dive onto the ground below, talons outstretched in hopes of catching some unsuspecting rodent.

Many of these attempts I photographed, and other times I would just sit back and admire the Owl’s grace and beauty as it artfully floated through the forest on large, outstretched wings. As the sun began to set, darkness encompassed the pine forest. I watched the Owl glide through the air one last time, but this time I gave no pursuit and within seconds it was gone from my view. No sight or sound gave any indication that there was a large Owl nearby, a true forest ghost, a phantom.