Popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl, from January 2015

This photo caught my eye last night, when I was looking in one of my photo folders of images to maybe post to Flickr. One of these owls is being occasionally seen in Fish Creek Park at the moment, too.

Almost three years ago, on 14 January 2015, I called in at Fish Creek Park for some fresh air and, hopefully, find a friend or two. I was lucky with both and people had already found one of the little owls. It was an amazingly therapeutic outing - my daughter had died just 11 days before.

Usually, the owl was just about within my camera range and we were all lucky enough to see it perched in a variety of places, including some closer views. Any very close photos that are on my photostream, taken on various days, were taken when the owl unexpectedly flew right to where people were standing, seemingly without any stress. You would think that the owls would move away to a different area if they were bothered by the presence of people. Instead, these tiny owls seem to be very tolerant, and continue to hunt, stash food (Meadow Voles) and even mate, when people are present.

"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

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pygmy_owl