The Northern Hawk Owl - Exciting and Rare
This past autumn and winter was a great season for owls…for others. Sadly, my owl season was a little on the slim side. Most of my encounters didn’t result in good photos unfortunately. That is until I learned about a Northern Hawk Owl a reasonable drive from home.
The Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) is one of the few owls that is neither nocturnal nor crepuscular (active primarily during the twilight period), being active only during the day. That’s good news for wildlife photographers, although it can pose a bit of a conundrum. Easier accessibility to this interesting looking owl leads to increased attention and traffic. Myself and those I often shoot with are ethical wildlife photographers, sadly that’s not case for everyone. Please promote and support ethical wildlife photography and watching.
Back to the Northern Hawk Owl - we’ll use NHO to avoid me typing too much.
A medium-sized non-migratory owl that mostly reside in the northern latitudes. So getting to see this one on more than a single occasion was a definite treat!
The NHO is the only living member of the Surnia genius. Making it not only rare, but also unique.
All my photos are of the same bird found in the same area. When first spotted it was definitely exhilarating - even perched on some electrical wires. I was lucky enough to have three separate encounters, although the third, at sunset, netted some grainy and soft images of it catching a vole. An evening snack perhaps.
The NHO will hunt and kill mammals as small as voles and as large as the snowshoe hare. They actually have several caches of food in their area allowing them to go back and feed if the hunting isn’t great at that time. With voles, they usually eat them whole.
So, while my owl season wasn’t the best, my encounter with the exciting and rare Northern Hawk Owl was a real treat!
See more owl photos here.
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