A tiny, ferocious hunter

This little, popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl looks so cute and innocent, but in reality, it is a ferocious hunter that is capable of killing things that are the same size or even a bit bigger than itself. It is a celebrity in our city at the moment, bringing crowds of curious people and masses of huge camera lenses.

Yesterday, 24 January 2015, I saw it again, after about 10 days of not seeing it - I had called in at the park very briefly on a couple of recent days, but heard that no one had seen the owl. All that changed yesterday, when it gave us some good chances to get photos. It really seems to be quite tolerant of people and even flew into some bushes near where everyone was standing. Only those who were willing or able to kneel or lie flat in the melting snow and puddles (which excluded me) got a really good view through the absolute tangle of thin branches. I managed to get a handful of shots, but was too tired and my eyes too blurry to edit any of them last night. So, instead, I am posting a photo taken on 12 January that I had already edited a few days ago. I did remove a few very distracting branches so that the focus was solely on this tiny bundle of feathers, who spends its daytimes watching and waiting for the slightest movement down below of yet another Meadow Vole.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Pygmy-Owl/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pygmy_owl