Saying goodbye to a beloved wild animal is one of life’s bittersweet moments. We all remember freeing Willy, chasing away Harry Henderson and watching Tod the fox shrink in the distance as Widow Tweed rode off into the sunset.

It’s hard to let go, but nature is best left untamed. And now it is time for Humboldt to say goodbye to its darling celebrity owls.

A screenshot of the eBird map showing how rare reported great gray owl sightings are in the Pacific Northwest.

A park official at the Prairie Creek Redwood visitor center told the Outpost over the phone that the last known great gray sighting was on February 17.

Two birders did report seeing the owl on Sunday, via the bird watching website eBird. However, sightings of the great gray have been few and far between in the past few weeks.

Additionally, the ultra-rare snowy owl spotted at the South Spit on February 18, was last seen on Friday.

The rare owls may have moved on to more familiar pastures, or it could be that local birders have had their fill of the feathered phenomenons. Either way, it seems that it is time to move on.

But before we do, let’s look back one last time at the birds that captured our short-attention spans.

We love you owls! Now go! Get out of here before we start to cry.

A screenshot of the eBird map showing how rare reported snowy owl sightings are in the Pacific Northwest.

 

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