Superbowl

You’ve waited for it, and now it is here: your 2025 OotY lineup!

From Bruce Danz

Snowy and Long Ear both had slim wins over their first opponents. I had thought the Snowy would come in with more dominance than it did, while Long Ear, who can be hit or miss in the dailies and tournaments surpassed Dusky Eagle, which usually polls higher.

From Scott’s Photography Adventures

This pair of owls is a bit surprising to see here today. Both are fairly unknown, but yet they defeated some of the most well known owls of the world, the Barred and the Great Horned.

I don’t often mention the passing of ambassador animals, but I just heard we lost one of our best little ambassadors! 🥺

From Wayne Comerford

Both of these owls have bested some real fan favorites to get here. BnW defeated the angelic Barn Owl and Mottled Wood really shocked a lot of us by taking out the Spectacled Owl, a favorite to win the tournament coming into it.

From Carlos A Carmona

Time to turn up the energy! Half our competitors have been sent home. We are left with just the top 16 owls of the world, and that number is going to keep dropping faster from here on out.

From Daniel Riddle

Here we are, at the end of the first set of matchups already! We are finally up to the round where our returning champion makes its return to our games after a year of glory!

From Wild Care Oklahoma

Buffy Fish Owl has been another fan fav in the previous games and is back for another round. Buffy is the lightest colored of the fish owls, and has the same rounded face and floppy ears of its relatives.

From Doc’s Veterinary Wildlife

I put up an owl box about a month ago. Yesterday I spotted this barred owl perched next to it. I’m hoping it’s not a coincidence. Seems very quick for someone to find it and move in, though.

From Brynda Ivan

Here’s an unlikely duo. We’ve got Africa’s largest owl, and we’ve got one of the northern hemisphere’s smallest. One is traditionally adorable, and the other has a one of a kind look. Let’s get to know them a bit better!

Today is a day for very contrasting owls here at OotY.

From Gary Kimball

From World Center for Birds of Prey

The Crested Owl is from Central and South American rainforests. This reclusive nocturnal owl cones in a darker and a lighter version. The darker ones are a rich chocolate color while the lighter ones are more reddish brown.

If you had never heard of the Burrowing Owl, you’d think someone was playing a trick on you. It lives under the ground, runs after prey, and is awake and active during the day? What kind of owl is that supposed to be?! But of course they are actually owls. They fly, they still have night vision, they live to hang out in trees.

Seen at a Sprouts Market (chain health food store)

From Tania Robson

This is our most polar opposite match so far. Like always though, these are some great owls, so it still might be quite the difficult choice. Let’s look at our competition today!

From Salthaven Wildlife Rehab

Eurasian Eagle Owl is one of the largest owls in the world. This owl covers much of Europe and Asia, and there are a multitude of subspecies across that vast area. They may vary by color, but all are massive, strong, have beautiful orange eyes, and distinct plumicorns.

From Frank Gibson

Ice vs Fire!

From Trystan Williams

Flamulated Owl gets a nice following in these tournaments. The eyes flamulated is a reference to the flame like markings it has, which make it resemble smoldering firewood. This little cutie is about half the size and a quarter the weight of a Western Screech Owl. It is slightly larger than the Elf Owl, which is the world’s smallest owl.

fuck you dad

From International Owl Center

The owl with a surprised look and exclamation point ears, the Long Eared Owl, is a medium lovely colored owl that hunts outside the forest, preferring open ground. It has a broad range across more moderate climates in North America and Eurasia. Though related to the Short Eared Owl, they share an unusual amount of genetic distance from them, despite being the same genus.

From Sagun Karmacharya

We’ve got some stellar owls today! All 4 up for battle are some of my very favorites. Let’s meet them now!

I stumbled upon a few long eared owls somewhere I wasn’t expecting to find them. Couldn’t get a better shot but was so happy to see them very clearly for the first time. They’re not very big but their stare is intense.

From Chao Wang

Barn Owls are everywhere! The Barnie is the most widely distributed owl in the world, found on all continents but Antarctica. They’ve even recently made it to New Zealand, possibly from hopping aboard ships or airplanes.

From Marina Scarr

The Short Eared Owl is an excellent long distance flyer. It can be found in parts of Africa, both Americas, including the Caribbean and Galapagos, Asia, and Europe. It’s even made it all the way to Hawaii and is still found occasionally on ships far out to sea.

From International Owl Center

Round 2 brings us a very distinguished pair of birds.

From Igor Marach

Welcome to the start of the 2025 Owl of the Year!

From Joe T Mirrorless

From Salim Sandali

Photo of Sumio Yamamoto with the real Don, a female Blakiston’s Fish Owl that he used for research, conservation and education for 26 years.

Micron, A5

From Ian Roberts

From Bryan Poss

From Kenny Le

Photo credits: Randy Herman

From Center for Wildlife

From Nik Tai

From Jude Hope

I was told this belongs here.

From Dan Oh

From David L Clark

From Badger Run Wildlife Rehab

From Cuong Nguyen

I don’t know if you guys will find this funny like I did, but while the White Faced Owl is one of the darn cutest animals ever, these are not what I’d consider flattering photos of them. With the hundreds of photos I’ve seen of them, honestly I’m amazed this owl can look like this funky, and it reminded me of the sub of people showing themselves photographed at the worst angle possible for fun.

From EULEN-UND GREIFVOGELSTATION Haringsee

From North Sky Raptor Sanctuary

From Jining Han

From The Raptor Center

From Scott Michael Miller

From The Owl Orphanage Velddrif

From Project SNOWstorm

Did I save the best for last? You tell me with those votes for your favorites!

Make sure you check out all 4 groups (A-D) as they get put up and vote for all your favorites. Bottom 2 of each group will be bumped, and the top 4 will continue on to the official games. Upvote your favorites below!

Make sure you check out all 4 groups (A-D) as they get put up and vote for all your favorites. Bottom 2 of each group will be bumped, and the top 4 will continue on to the official games. Upvote your favorites below!

/trumpets and fanfare

By @nathanclarkwildlife@instagram.com

From Don Wiggans

From Charles Glatzer

From Wild Care Oklahoma

From The Raptor Center

From Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke

From Harald Haberscheidt

From Bruce Buckingham

From Tajinder Singh

From Shajahan Valiyakath

Alice the Great Horned Owl in a towel for bill and talon trimming. Ever since she came to us when she was 1.5 years old the right side of her lower mandible has flared out a bit, making it look like her bill might be misaligned, but it isn’t…that’s just how it grows. She is 28 years old now, retired, with arthritis, significant cataracts, and atherosclerosis. But she is still spunky!!

An owl found partially encased in concrete after it got inside a cement mixer in southwestern Utah is expected to fly free again after it was painstakingly cleaned by animal sanctuary workers who described the bird as a “fighter.”

From Jason Fraser

From Tapir Valley

From Badger Run Wildlife Rehab

From Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke