Hello all this is my first post.
The reason I joined is because a couple of nights ago I became aware of an owl nesting in downtown new westminster less than 100 yards from the skytrain station.I did not get a picture but im still trying.It has about a 24inch wingspan and what looked like grey and white barring on the top of the wings.I really did not get a goog look and hope to get a picture soon.

I generally tell people to look for three things when trying to identify an owl : size, eye colour, and presence or absence of "ear" tufts. Obviously it isn't foolproof, but it can quickly narrow down the choices.

Large owls in the lower mainland are usually Barred or Great Horned. Great Horned Owls have ear tufts and yellow eyes. Barred Owls have dark eyes and no ear tuffs.

If you saw a large owl on a nest it is probably a Great Horned, since Barred Owls are cavity nesters.