What kind of owl?

For the past couple of months, and especially last night (New Year's eve), I've been hearing/heard a pair of owls hooting back and forth to each other consistently from dusk 'til dawn. The hoots are in a series of 4 to 6. On previous occasions I've heard only one owl calling, but usually only 4 hoots. One evening I sat out in the backyard listening and looking in the direction of the hoots. After listening and sitting in the backyard patiently, I heard some rustling up in the trees and caught a glimpse of it flying out of the tree. It was too dark out to get a good look, but it looked rather large (about the size of a red tailed hawk) and it was mostly brown in color. There were a couple of wing beats and mostly gliding, and then it was gone. :( What species of owl have I been hearing and what did I see that one night? I reside in the San Francisco Bay Area in South San Francisco, in close proximity to the San Bruno Mountains.

It's so thrilling to read the above post that what I've been hearing (and caught a glimpse of on that one lucky occasion) may be a Great Horned owl!!! It reminds me of my visit to Yellowstone Nat'l Park back in 2001, when I heard the howling of a pack of wolves where it sent chills up my spine. Not only was it chilling hearing them, but to actually witness them in Lamar Valley. I never imagined I'd ever be so lucky hearing the call of the wild in my own backyard, though -- that of a Great Horned owl! Now, everytime I hear the "Hoo-Hoo-Hoo, Hoo-Hoo", I have my eyes peeled in the direction of the sounds. So far, haven't been one of the fortunate to see them roosting in the trees. I would've thought that as large as Great Horned owls are, that they'd be much easier to spot than a Red Tailed hawk.

You live near San Bruno Mountains, well there are a huge number of trees, especially on the north and the west side. I would bet there is more than one breeding pair of great horned owls in your area, you may keep an eye out for other raptors as well. I live in the North Bay and have driven the area you are near...

While I'm a gardener and looking downward at plants most of the time, my husband has been looking up, watching and listening to birds. No more than 50 ft. from our house is a great horned owl sitting on a nest of 2 babies high up in a Eucalyptus tree. They look right at us and the babies are fuzzy white and look almost like a persian cat. Their nest is full of white down. It's so amazing! We live near a creek in a woodsy area of So. Orange County. I have never seen so many birds (now that we are looking). Kites, hawks, kingfishers, crows, woodpeckers, bluebirds, robins and of course, hummingbirds.

What kind of owl did I see I do not konow, but what i do know is that it was brown with white spotes (on its back only) and it looked liked it had a white line mask. I have been looking all over the web and can not find my answer so can you help me at all I am clue less!!!!

hananbean - Where do you live? it helps us identify what are possible species for your area.

"white line mask" is often a barn owl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_Owl

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