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!!!