All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Dad! (Great Horned Owl)

Year 7

I finally saw Dad! He has been hooting his amour for “Lady Love” since last October, but other than a few glimpses when being chased by crows, he has not shown himself to me. Yesterday was different, and 420 photographs later I now present to you Mr. Great Horned Owl. The happy couple expects at least twins by mid March. The female has been on the nest since at least February 10th (nine days ago).

Owls are masters of camouflage. Although I knew the male had to be perched every day within sight of the nest, finding him has been difficult. The happy couple’s home is a forest of towering white pines. All the branches mean sight lines for me towards the heavens are difficult. Even yesterday taking photographs was a challenge. I actually returned to the nesting area five hours apart (the owl had not moved) because I wanted good light. However, the owls ignored me most of the time. Thus, I waited and waited till the combination of some sun broke through the thick pine branches at the same time Mr. Great Horned Owl was willing to look in my direction.

If you would like to learn more about the nesting habits of Great Horned Owls, follow this link from the Cornell School of Ornithology. The female will not leave the nest till after the young hatch. She incubates; he hunts and guards.

Mr. Great Horned Owl (the happy, expectant father)

Mrs. Great Horned Owl (image taken nine days ago)Great Horned Owl on a nest

Hunting on the “Light Side”!

Year 7

It was snowing heavily yesterday morning up in Sax-Zim Bog!

While normally one would not expect to see a Barred Owl hunting much after day break, a Great Horned Owl has also been hunting the “same turf” at night in Winterberry Bog. Given GHO’s will happily prey upon their smaller cousins, it has forced this very nocturnal owl to hunt during the day.

Barred Owl (just prior to take-off)

After taking some photographs I headed over to the Welcome Center for my stint as a volunteer. Over the past few days I have met birders who heralded from all over the country. Being a northern Minnesota native it is kind of funny to explain to Texans and Californians that a temperature of 12F is warm. They don’t believe me!

The Barred Owl’s final perch … I was just another obstacle / tree to avoid! It actually landed thirty yards away, but just above my friend’s Mark M.’s head! To say we were both dumbfounded as the bird flew directly towards us is a HUGE understatement.

The view (albeit quite blurry) as an owl approached my head. Given the heavy snow  in progress and thus lack of light, I was definitely not able to have a short enough shutter speed to capture the experience, but it gives everyone the idea. The owl was “eye to eye” with me at this point, and only about 12 feet away. I remained very still as it flew past me … only feet from my head!!!

Wind Blown Snowy Owl!

Year 7

For the past few days it has been cold and windy, very windy. My successes at finding owls, particularly Snowy Owls has been poor till late yesterday afternoon.  First one needs to understand that Snowy Owls are birds of the open tundra with nary a tree for hundreds and hundreds of miles. These birds hunt by sight. Thus, a Snowy likes to find spots to perch for hunting where they can seen vast open spaces. However, when the wind makes not being blown off those kind of perches difficult, birds adapt.

I finally found Lady again last night. Watch the video embedded below (link for email subscribers). She is having a devil of a time holding on to her perch. She finally gave up and flew to a nearby neighborhood where she disappeared. However, as she dove from view I thought about those words … “she dove from view”. I wondered if this owl was escaping from the open areas and now hunting in a residential area … hunting from roof tops where she was shielded from the wind. The answer was a resounding “yes”. Over the course of the next fifteen minutes along with a few friends we not only repeatedly refound Lady as she worked along the roofs of various homes, but we quickly also found another Snowy Owl. I learned my lesson … if the winds are 20 mph or higher look for Snowies is unusually but protected areas. Lady needed to hunt as the weather has been cold (-23F at sunrise yesterday morning). Birds burn calories much faster keeping warm on these types of days.

Lady Trying to Hunt from an Open Pole (failed)

Lady the Snowy Owl

A Northern Shrike which did NOT like having the owl in the neighborhood. It was screaming up a racket.