Northern Hawk Owl

Apart from the last few days, the last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous birds of prey was on 8 February 2016, just about a year ago. It was just the same thrill seeing this recent one.

The first time I saw the owl in this photo was 29 January 2017, Since then, I have called in briefly three other times, once just for 10 minutes. The first day was by far the best day, as the owl perched on a few fence posts, nicely out in the open. The other times, it was mainly in one tree or another, as in this photo, or a couple of times perched on top of a utility pole next to an insulator.

I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always a few who will do anything to get a closer shot.

"The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl

"The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_hawk_owl/lifehistory