The sacrifice made by Meadow Voles

"The Northern Pygmy-Owl may be tiny, but it’s a ferocious hunter with a taste for songbirds. These owls are mostly dark brown and white, with long tails, smoothly rounded heads, and piercing yellow eyes. They hunt during the day by sitting quietly and surprising their prey. As a defensive measure, songbirds often gather to mob sitting owls until they fly away. Mobbing songbirds can help you find these unobtrusive owls, as can listening for their call, a high-pitched series of toots." From AllAboutBirds.

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

These owls also have a taste for Meadow Voles and during the past few weeks, photographers have seen this bird catch numerous Voles, including this unlucky little one, seen on 23 February 2015. This particular day was very quiet while I was there, with not much owl activity at all. We just lucked out when it caught this Meadow Vole.