All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Sunset to Sunrise Christmas Snowy Owl!

Year 12

This journey of the Christmas Snowy Owl started yesterday evening just before sunset, and continued during the the pre-dawn light this morning. Madam Snowy was VERY cooperative and often landed on hunting perches that were only 25 yards away.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from me and the birds!

One photographic hint … should you ever find yourself trying to photograph your subject, in this case a Snowy Owl, but a fence blocks your view. Place the lens of your camera immediately against the fence. The camera will adjust and take an “unobstructed” photo as if the fence is not even present! This is how I took the photo of the Snowy Owl on the ground.

Make certain you scroll down to the last image … taken right at sunup this morning.

Last night just before sunset … Snowy Owl

This morning before sunrise … same owl!

 

A Day for the Owls!

Year 12,

After a day and a half of fierce winds gusting of 45 mph, this morning dawned bright and calm (albeit cold at -9F). My comment is make certain you have a good weather app, and an app which is configurable to show you the hour by hour forecast as provided by the US Weather Service. I tend to focus upon cloud cover percentages, and wind speeds (basic and top gusts).

Thus, I knew the morning would be good in terms of finding my Northern Hawk Owl. After the poor weather it should be hungry (hunting was difficult) and willing to use perches out in the open (calm winds warmed by the sun). I met with success!

When the clouds started to roll in late this morning I headed home. However, my great day of birding was not over. Taking a break from the computer I walked out to our living room to read a book, but I became very distracted. A Barred Owl was only 25 years away from our window hunting squirrels underneath my feeders! Enjoy!

(video link for email subscribers)

My weather app, available for iPhone or Android is named Weawow.

Northern Hawk Owl! (1st of this winter)

Year 12

Heck, I’m thrilled! Some winters it is rare to see even one of there beautiful owls, and as folks know who follow my blog the Northern Hawk Owl is the “sparkbird” of this 12 year online effort. While most folks up here in the Northland drop everything and chase reports of Great Gray Owls, the NHO gets that kind of attention from me!

Anyhow it was a fun late morning yesterday when I watched this owl hunt for almost an hour. It is not worth asking me the location of this bird. It was not in Sax-Zim Bog, and the location will not be revealed. The Northern Hawk Owl would get inundated with visitors.

And the NHO Movie! (video link for email subscribers)