‘It was insane’: Rare barn owl spotted in south Calgary

A wildlife photographer captured an image of a rare owl in a Calgary park. The owl's appearance worries one expert.

Wildlife photographer Brendon Clark spotted a barn owl in a park in south Calgary last month.

“I think my head almost exploded. It was actually mind-boggling,” he said.

Clark asked CTV to not share the location to avoid a flood of people to the area, which could disrupt the habitat.

“For it to just randomly show up in a park in Alberta was pretty shocking and cool,” he said.

Clark was in the park to capture pictures of another owl species when he saw a flash of white feathers.

“As it went over my head, it looked right in my face. They have very distinct eyes, so as soon as I saw it, I knew it was a barn owl. It was insane,” he said.

It was a very rare sighting, considering barn owls normally live in the United States, British Columbia and Ontario.

“There are roughly 250 to 275 breeding pairs in British Columbia. The only other population we have in Canada is southern Ontario. There are only about five breeding pairs there. It’s considered very endangered,” said David Bird, emeritus professor of wildlife biology at McGill University.

Bird believes the owl came from B.C.

He fears it won’t survive the winter because barn owls aren’t built for the cold and can’t hunt in deep snow.

“The chances of this poor barn owl making it through the winter in a place like Calgary are very, very slim,” he said.

They are a remarkable species, though, with exquisite hearing.

“They have ear holes in their skull that are offset so that the sound waves from any squeaky mouse, for example, reach one side of the face faster than the other, which means that the owl can quickly triangulate where the rodent is,” explained Bird.

Bird expects Calgarians to see more unique animal sightings as the climate warms.

As for Clark, his next adventure is to spot a boreal owl.

That should be a lot easier, considering they’re year-round residents of Alberta.