After the winter storm yesterday, a Canadian high pressure system screamed into northern Minnesota bringing temperatures of -20F ten miles away from the lake. Before the mercury dropped too much I made my final trip of the year over to the Bog and hiked into the back country. While much of the way I was able to use a poorly maintained snowshoe trail, for the last 400 yards I slogged through deep, deep snow … that rose up to my mid thighs (I am 6 feet 2 inches tall). The effort was well worth the trouble as I got to watch this Northern Hawk Owl try to consume its prey. Here is one still image followed by a short stop action video which demonstrates the gyrations the Northern Hawk Owl went through while trying to eat a vole. The owl actually had to try five times to successfully swallow its prey, stopping to tear some flesh off the vole before it was successful at eating the vole. Guess its eyes were bigger than its stomach (or in this case its mouth and throat).

This first still image was taken moments after the owl had finally consumed the vole. It looked over at me (only 15 yards distant) and seemed to say with its stare: “What are you watching, bub?”

This stop action video was created from 23 images. The actual length of what you are watching took a little over 2 seconds

A few more still images which document the experience!