Owls in Alberta
Our list for Alberta has 10 owls recorded regularly there: 1 resident, 1 summer visitor, 5 winter visitors and 3 passage migrants
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Alberta in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 10, most common first
Great Horned OwlBubo virginianusWinter visitorCommon46–63 cmRecorded all year
Snowy OwlBubo scandiacusWinter visitorCommon52–71 cmRegularly Nov–Mar
Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicusWinter visitorUncommon17–21 cmRegularly Sep–Jun
Northern Pygmy-owlGlaucidium gnomaWinter visitorUncommon15–17 cmRegularly Sep–Apr
Short-eared OwlAsio flammeusWinter visitorUncommon34–43 cmRecorded all year
Barred OwlStrix variaResidentRare43–50 cmRecorded all year
Boreal OwlAegolius funereusPassage migrantRare21–28 cmRegularly Oct–Apr
Long-eared OwlAsio otusSummer visitorRare35–40 cmRegularly Feb–Dec
Eastern Screech-owlMegascops asioPassage migrantRare16–25 cmRegularly Oct–Apr
Western Screech-owlMegascops kennicottiiPassage migrantRare19–25 cmRegularly Jun
Smallest to largest
Length, cmData: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made