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As a wildlife photographer, Brandon Clarke has seen his fair share of owls, but one recent sighting left him speechless.
“I just thought my mind was playing tricks on me,” Clark said. “I saw the black eyes and beak of a barn owl. I couldn't believe it.”
The barn owl is not native to Alberta and is rarely seen anywhere in Canada, let alone in places far outside the bird's native Canadian range, i.e. small parts of Ontario and British Columbia.
Clark was looking for a short-eared owl, a bird considered relatively common in Alberta, in a park in southeast Calgary on Nov. 20 when loud crows alerted him to the presence of a much rarer species.
“When he looked at me, it was like a movie,” Clark said. “It was so surreal.”
He managed to get a few shots of the shy bird, which was at the top of his list of wildlife photos, before it took off. He hasn't seen it since.
Calgary wildlife photographer Jennil Modar also saw the bird at another time that day.
“It’s a unique moment to see it here,” Modar said.
In Canada, barn owls are only known to nest in small parts of Ontario and British Columbia. A small number of barn owls, alive and dead, have been found in Alberta over the years, but verified reports are few and far between. The first confirmed sighting of a live barn owl in the province occurred in December 1999 northeast of Red Deer.
Barn Owls are not naturally found in and around the Prairie Provinces, where their poor tolerance of cold temperatures means they will not survive long into the winter.
The owl's heart-shaped face detects sound and allows the bird to locate prey at night, making it an effective nocturnal hunter.
But it is not the fact that it is an owl that makes the appearance of this bird so rare.
Canada's iconic owls are endangered
Barn owls join northern spotted owls And burrowing owls as one of only three owls designated as an endangered species by the Canadian government. Habitat loss due to urbanization and agricultural development is considered a major threat to birds.
The conservation status of the barn owl in Canada is divided into two categories: the western population, limited to southwestern British Columbia, is listed as endangered, and the eastern population in Ontario is considered endangered.
NatureCounts, a biodiversity data platform managed by Birds Canada, estimates there are 650 barn owls left in the country.
Colin Weir, managing director of the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation, said barn owl sightings are “extremely rare” anywhere in the province. The center, which treats injured birds of prey from across Canada, has only taken in two wild barn owls in the past 40 years, he said.
Barn owls are not considered a migratory species, meaning it is unusual for them to end up so far outside their natural range. Barn owl sightings are rarely reported in Alberta, and many reports simply involve cases of mistaken identity, Weir said.
“They are usually juvenile great horned owls, not barn owls, but sightings are possible.”
In terms of habitat, barn owls live up to their name: they tend to nest in old buildings. Weir said demolishing and replacing these buildings with new ones is a factor in the loss of habitat for endangered birds.
Barn owls don't face as much habitat destruction in Europe, where the old architecture they prefer to nest in often remains intact, Weir said.
“In Europe they are known as the graveyard owl or graveyard owl and they are quite common in churches and cemeteries.”
