Sometimes you get lucky! I was driving home yesterday from birding hear the Canadian border (good times … more later), and decided to swing by Sax-Zim Bog. I wanted to see if I could find the Northern Hawk Owl that has been haunting Hwy. 7. Northern Hawk Owls are notorious for using the same hunting territory, and when I arrived at my desired point shortly after lunch there was not a single car to be seen on Hwy 7 (not a good sign if you are hoping for an owl … other cars are indicative of an owl sighting).

I scanned the horizon with my binoculars and spotted the Hawk Owl over 2/3 of a mile distant. Oh well, I thought; many be it will move closer. I settled down to wait and then the owl disappeared. 30 seconds later it landed on a power pole right next to me!

Then the magic happened. With almost any other raptor I am able to tell when they will take off, with the Northern Hawk Owl I can not figure out when a take-off is imminent, and these owls are fast. Within a micro second they are out of your frame, and forget tracking.

As I said … I got lucky. The NHO took off and immediately turned back towards me while I was in the process of taking multiple pictures. Yippy!

Northern Hawk Owl Take-Off (if you can tell from the second image the owl is about to take off, you have a better understanding of these birds than me … it looks like the bird is about to take a snooze)

End Location … a RR Signal Pole right above me

A few more photos of my signature bird!

This past Saturday the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center opened for the winter. Just before opening time I donated & dropped off a significant numbers of my three owl children’s books. Now if you buy any of my books at the Welcome Center, 100% of your purchase price goes to support the Friend’s of Sax-Zim Bog. I also donated the “print ready proofs” with production rights to the Friends organization. It makes me feel good to know my owl children’s books will live on … You may still purchase a printed copy or download a free PDF from my website.

Now the fun starts … we all know Great Gray Owls normally do not hunt late in the morning on a bright day. However, Smokey must have wanted to thank me for the donation of his book. Saturday as I drove home on Owl Avenue, just before 10 am Smokey appeared! I watched the owl hunt for over 10 minutes. Actually, the idea of this owl being Smokey is not far fetched. This is the time of year juvenile owls now have to hunt 100% of the time for themselves. Given they are not yet accomplished hunters, it is often the juvenile, first of year birds, one sees hunting during the daylight hours. Hunger is a great motivator.

Saturday’s Smokey the Great Gray Owl Photographs

Well … Barry the Barred Owl was not about to be outdone by Smokey. Yesterday, long before sunset, Barry who makes a cameo appearance in Smokey’s book hunted and posed me in the late afternoon sun. My owls are cool!

Sunday’s Barry the Barred Owl Images

One final note … many people have asked me if I have another owl picture book planned. The answer is “yes and no”. I have written / photographed 3 children’s owl picture books about Great Gray Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Snowy Owls. Similar to my book, Do You Hoot? which is factually correct and documents my local Great Horned Owlets growing up through their first year, I would like to take the same approach for Barred Owls. However, that means I have to find a Barred Owl nest near Amity Creek. Oh well, life is never easy!