I walked out the front door of my house and heard the crows, jays and chickadees making a ton of noise. I immediately thought owl. I ran and got my camera and headed to where the jays were making the noise. I looked for 5 minutes without seeing anything. As I was heading back to my house I thought it would be cool to see a Barred Owl sitting on a tree in the open. I started shoveling again and more crows started to come. I ran into my house, got my binoculars and headed back over to see this sticking out like a sore thumb.
I called my mom, she and 3 of my brothers came and got to see it. My mom got one of the neighbors who also able to see it. I called another birder to come see and it let us get fairly close to it.
The blue on the eyes is the nictitating membrane
Another highlight from the day, was a pair of male Pine Grosbeaks and another flock at my house.