Tag Archives: MN North: Two Harbors Highlands

Northwoods Hunter: Great Gray Owl

Year 7

This morning I explored a new area, and I found this Great Gray Owl. This sequence of images shows its successful hunt. Given the dark conditions I was not able to get many flight shots, but it was fun to watch.

First found … thankfully atop a pine (easily viewable)

Intense Concentration … vole underneath the snow

Strike! (Great Gray Owls hunt using their ears to hear mice and voles running underneath the snow)

Breakfast (in the cropped close-up you are able to see the vole’s tail)

Typical Flight Show (away from me with a busy background)

Hunting anew … well camouflaged

Favorite Owling Spots!

Year 7
Just like folks have favorite fishing spots, Great Gray Owls have preferred hunting perches. Found this owl exactly 24 hours and 20 feet away from where I first found the bird yesterday. I do not exist in the owl’s world. It never looked at me once! North of Duluth … not the Bog.
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As I create this post around 5 pm, my local Great Horned Owl couple are hooting away their love for each other. They should renest in a little under two months. Remember, my children’s book, Do You Hoot?, is available for free download.

Crows Attack Great Gray Owl

Year 7

I spent a delightful hour with this Great Gray Owl this afternoon north of Duluth (not Sax-Zim Bog). I was very surprised to find it out hunting at 2 pm in the afternoon on a bright sunny day. Ultimately it paid the price for being out this early and was repeatedly attacked by crows. However, I will admit the owl seemed to be nonplussed with the crows.

A bad hair day (or feathers!)