Tag Archives: MN North: Duluth

Amity Great Horned Owls Demand Equal Time!

Les and Amy are upset! After all they sing for me every night … a regular hoot fest. As we keep a window cracked open every night, I often hear the owls right from my own bed. Even though the mercury dipped to -13F last night, the famous pair sang while I listened all warm and snuggled up in my bed. Here is a 30 second sound clip I recorded a few mornings ago. The low sound in between hoots is actually Amity Creek, which given it was almost ice covered the sound was definitely just a quiet babbling brook (video/sound link for email subscribers)


Why were my local owls upset? They knew I had come home after photographing the “white owl!”. Yup, There are a couple of Snowy Owls in the Duluth area already this winter, and I quite often find one or two.

Snowy Owl Starting the Evening Hunt


Finally, I performed some format edits / updates very early this morning to the PDF of Northeastern Minnesota Birding Locations. The new vile (version 6) was uploaded and went live at 6 am CST. If you have the prior version (see file name), you may wish to download a new copy. There were no content changes. I have found reading the PDF works best in landscape mode on my phone.

UpChuck Owling! Snowy Owl Pellet

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.

Snowy Owl Time in Duluth!

Yesterday the weather was horrible with an Alberta Clipper (3 inches of snow plus 45 mph wind gusts), but the two days that bookended were fantastic! One day was cloudy, and one day was sunny. I am pretty certain this is the same owl. Enjoy, I know I did. This evening I was privileged to watch a peregrine falcon attack the owl for over 20 minutes!

Tuesday Snowy Owl

Thursday Snowy Owl (just a few minutes before sunset)