Eagles, Hawks and Owls Taking Off!

Year 8

I haven’t posted much over the past few days because we had a humdinger of a winter storm here in the Northland. Yesterday when the sun finally came out I was marooned at our house. 60+ mph wind gusts brought down some pine trees which blocked my only exit from my small neighborhood. Just as well because I needed to shovel all the snow off the sidewalk and driveway.

However, this morning I escaped and arrived at Sax-Zim Bog a half hour before dawn. Perhaps that was not a great idea. The mercury was -18F. While the winds had finally abated the severely cold temperature is never great for birding.

On the way home I did find a very cooperative Rough Legged Hawk. See the very final image which will show you how you may know when a raptor is about to take off … within seconds! Cheers.

Look towards the bottom center of this image!!! At this point you would want to press the shutter down, and keep it down (continuous mode)

Team Vole is in Trouble!

Year 8

I’m not sure which team Snowy was cheering for yesterday evening, but for Team Vole a mistake would surely be deadly (oops … I mean tasty). Our early season viewing of Snowy Owls up here in the Northland continues to be lots of fun. However, tonight’s forecast winter storm with 12 inches of snow will make the Snowy Owls harder to find!

At the ballpark

On the hunt

Snowstorm?!

Year 8
The number of Snowy Owls that have appeared in the past nine days is amazing. I am hesitant yet to call this an irruption year, but for the moment I am very much enjoying this “snowstorm”!
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This morning … the owl was hiding from the wind in Northeastern Minnesota (not the Bog). I watched this owl for two hours, and very briefly it stood up … looked around, and went back to sleep.