Ohio here, these birds are not rare but they are surprisingly tricky to get. I was lucky to get a good location from the Ohio birding Discord this year and got a couple of nice snaps.

Is that from a feeder mic?

Sorry for the delay! Local naturalists who are familiar with the parks they support become familiar with owls that nest and hunt their parks. In my area that is the Metro Parks. Or you may have an Audubon Society in your town/area that uses expert birder members who are also familiar with where and when owls typically are. You are never guaranteed to see an owl on an owl walk, but if you are in the right place at the right time there is usually a very good chance you will hear their calls. And your guide will know where to look to increase your chance of seeing one. I participated in an owl walk in the fall where we heard a lot of calls but no sightings, but it was still extremely cool. Then sometimes you get to see one and that is also cool.

I noticed your post titles say (OC), what does that stand for/mean?

I don’t understand why my picture isn’t previewed/displayed.

According to the Metro Parks Naturalist, they don’t like to do owl walks once it gets to I think she said nesting season, or maybe it was breeding season, I can’t remember exactly, but the basic idea was that we try to do fewer things that might distress them or put them in stress. Then through the spring and summer they are usually raising babies, which can also be sensitive if bird watchers are all over them. For our local Metro Parks system and birding groups it seems like they only do organized owl walks from near the end of October until about the end of February.

Wow, much brighter coloration than our belted kingfisher in Ohio.

Jealous! Here in central Ohio we supposedly should get a few but confirmed sightings are basically nonexistent. EBird mods won’t trust Merlin audio because they say Carolinas can mimic black-caps, and when you get something that has black-cap-looking markings they’ve said it “looks like a Carolina with some black-cap genes”. I’d just like to get a confirmed black cap around here, I know we must get some. Great pictures.

There were two, they just wouldn’t listen to me when I told them to swim next to each other :)

Got a really good shot of him today puffed up as a few crows were perched nearby.

Whoa, looking at the pictures online I think you might be right. Shorter beak, still with the pronounced head stripe, and the back pattern looks like a match. eBird’s maps say that’s a pretty common area for that species. Thank you!

As I understand it, yes. I only discovered him very recently and he’s been in a similar spot twice. I wouldn’t have known except I ran into someone who lived right nearby who showed me where he would be (he wasn’t there at the time). Sure enough he was there the next time I went. This is off a small paved path next to a small wooded area, but this tree itself is in someone’s backyard on the other side of the path from the wooded area. There are a couple of owls in the immediate area, and have been for years. Lots of food, fairly temperate winters. But it’s inside of a suburb neighborhood, so if they’re bothered by people they don’t show it.