Winter Wonderland Owling Reprise!

Year 11

As promised when I found and watched a Great Gray Owl yesterday morning, I did go back out yesterday afternoon. Fortune was with me (and perhaps some owl habitat knowledge) and I found and watched a second Great Gray Owl starting its late afternoon hunt. Examine the sequence of photographs as they demonstrate how I took almost ten minutes to approach the owl. I let the bird get comfortable with my presence and learn to ignore me as I did not represent a threat. The zoom on my Sony’s lens is only 350 mm, which given it is a crop sensor APS-C camera means the 35 mm equivalent is 525 mm. Thus I am NOT utilizing a huge big lens while birding.

Location 1: Great Gray Owl in its Winter Wonderland!

Location 2: Moving a little closer to the owl

Location 3: Closer yet to the Great Gray Owl! (it ignores me to hunt)

A short video of the owl hunting (video link for email subscribers)

Listen as you watch the video. It is quiet in the forest. This helps the owl which never sees its prey and uses its hearing for the entire hunt!

Here is my final comment of this post … if you spend lots of time on remote snow covered roads, follow my example. I have keep a 30 inch Bow Saw in my Subaru. Yesterday the saw came in very handy and allowed me to clear the road of a large downed tree. The alternative would have been a 25 mile detour. Uff Dah!

Winter Wonderland Owling!

Year 11

While most folks might have thought the winter storm dump of snow meant stay home, I figured otherwise! The snow on the trees inland from Two Harbors was gorgeous. I did have to change my planned route when my first road was not yet plowed, and had an amazing amount of fresh snow and ice which was not conducive to safe driving. My plan is to repeat this afternoon!

Winter Wonderland Great Gray Owl!

UpChuck Owling! Snowy Owl Pellet

Year 11

Okay, how many of us enjoying throwing up? I defy anyone to say they like the process! I suspect owls have the same opinion, and given they swallow much of their smaller prey whole, the bones, fur, and other inedible parts need to come back out … as an owl pellet (Cornell School of Ornithology Link).

From a two evenings ago … this Snowy Owl was getting ready for its evening hunt, but first an owl pellet needed to be tossed.