Even the East German judge had to give my friend, the Northern Hawk Owl, a perfect 10.0! Two afternoons ago I drove over to Sax-Zim Bog and had a great time with the Northern Hawk Owl. The crowds have now left the Bog, and I had this experience all to myself! Thankfully, this owl is one of our last real northern birds to head back up into Canada. Often Northern Hawk Owls will hang out till around till early April. In addition, this is about the only raptor that I am not able to determine when it will takeoff. Finally, this bird is fast. Blink and it is gone.

Thus, while definitely there is a lot of skill involved in taking these images, I will not lie and must admit there is plenty of luck involved. One of my favorite podcasts is “How I Built This” from NPR with the host Guy Raz. At the end of each episode, he asks the entrepreneur whom he is interviewing: “What percentage of your success do you attribute to skill vs luck?” For the moment, I refuse to answer that question. LOL!

Northern Hawk Owl Nails the Landing!

Just hanging out … soon to be in flight

The Flight and Landing (note the shadows!)

Hanging out once more on a nearby perch