JACKSON, Wyo. — “Hoo’s taking my photo?”
Buckrail photographer Nick Sulzer spotted a great gray owl intermittently napping in a tree in the Gros Ventre.
According to the National Park Service, the great gray owl is the tallest owl in North America, and it sports the longest wingspan. Males hunt voles and other small rodents during daylight hours, making them easier to spot than some other species of owl.
Great gray owls dwell in dense forests across North America and in parts of Europe and Asia. The bird’s plumage helps it blend into tree bark, earning it nicknames including the Phantom of the North and the Great Gray Ghost. Its distinctive disked face and yellow eyes make sightings particularly striking.
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is also home to great horned owls, northern pygmy-owls, long-eared owls, short-eared owls, boreal owls and northern saw-whet owls.
