Category Archives: Year 7

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.

Amity Owls!

Year 7,

My Great Horned Owls are back and on their nest! Over the past few months I have heard their love songs, but this afternoon I confirmed they are launching a new family. Last Spring I had a fantastic time watching Ma & Pa Great Horned Owls raise their twins. According to the Cornell School of Ornithology the first young should hatch in about one month, or about the 10th of March.

You might ask why any self-respecting owl would nest in the middle of the frigid Minnesota winter? The answer is quite logical … it’s all about prey. As the owlets grow and increase their food demands, other animals will be having their young (squirrels, mice, rabbits, crows, etc). Thus, there will lots of food for the parents available at nature’s supermarket. Finally, once the young are fledged there will be lots of new young prey upon which these young owls may practice their hunting before winter returns to the Northland.

Great Horned Owl on its Nest

Before I visited my own owls, I made a quick trip up to Sax-Zim Bog. The hoar frost was drop dead gorgeous this morning. Unfortunately I could not find a candidate bird to sit at close range for a photoshoot. This image was taken at quite a distance.

Northern Hawk Owl in a Hoar Frost Flocked Tree

Incidentally I was not dedicated to taking a picture of an owl with the hoar frost. I actually took a two mile hike in the woods … not a single Gray Jay, Crossbill or made their presence known. It was amazingly quiet.

Finally, yesterday morning before the sun came out from behind the clouds, I found this Great Gray Owl getting ready for its daily nap.

Great Gray Owl