The Pygmy Owl is our smallest owl. In the warmer months, it lives high in the mountains, but sometimes it visits the valleys in the winter. This year, there are many Pygmy Owls here and I have treated them in four postings. The Pygmy is unusual in a few ways: in addition to being our smallest owl, it is active during the day and hunts by sight.
The Great Grey Owl is our largest owl. Although it is found mainly to our north, many years it will spend a few weeks hunting for food in the occasional meadows along the North Arm of the Lake. This year, it is here, so Cynthia and I visited to watch it.
In planning some postings on the Great Grey Owl, it struck me that pictures of these two winter owls could be deceptive: independent of size, we have the critter nearly filling the frame. So, relative size is not revealed. This initial posting corrects that. First I show the two owls with their standard frame-filling pictures. Then a composite shows the approximate relative sizes of the two of them.
Subsequent postings will just present the Great Grey: as it hunts from a perch, as it flies, and, as it catches a meal. Interestingly, both the Pygmy Owl and the Great Grey Owl enjoy eating voles.
Our smallest owl is the Pygmy Owl. 
Our largest owl is the Great Grey Owl. In these pictures, size is not apparent.
This is a composite picture of our largest owl, the Great Grey Owl (left) and our smallest owl, the Pygmy Owl (right), both flying. They are strikingly different in size.
Wow…the size difference is a more than dramatic!!..almost hard to believe – but Alistair as it is from you..there is no doubt! What a great idea to show the relative sizes in a composite photo.
Allan
Woodbury Village
Great Photos as usual and loved seeing the difference in them! The Pigmy Owl reminds me of some of the birds here in Missouri like the Spotted Starling when it’s all puffed out because of the weather.