Northern Hawk Owl

This is one of the two Northern Hawk Owls that a friend and I saw on Monday, N of Cochrane (i.e. NW of Calgary). I happened to catch it having a good stretch, very high up in a tall tree. I did remove a thin branch that cut across the tail, as I just found it extremely distracting and annoying. Yes, I admit it, I altered an image, LOL! Then, as if the thrill of Monday wasn't enough, I was invited by another friend to go back to the very same area this afternoon!! The sky was as blue as can be (just like on Monday) and we found THREE of these owls in the area. Unbelievable! The icing on the cake was yet to come, as we soon found out. A few moments later, on our way out of the area, there was a female Moose in a wooded field. To these two friends who enabled me to get out of the city (where I won't drive for the most part) and see these incredible sights - thank you SO much!

Have been feeling really unwell the last 7-10 days, so the very last thing I should have done was to drive to a new area by myself on a -20C day, LOL! I've battled a phobia of driving the last 31 years, so plucking up courage to do this drive meant a lot to me. Felt so good to have done it. Wonderfully, I bumped into a couple of friends who were already at the location, so there was someone to chat with while we stood and waited and waited and waited for this gorgeous Northern Hawk Owl to do something, ha, ha! They also very kindly brought back a cup of hot coffee for me when they drove into Cochrane for a quick break. We did see three of these owls along the stretch of road, but they were perched a long way away. Maybe they, too, were feeling the cold. The one above was in fact perched in a row of trees with masses of tangled branches, but I was lucky to just be able to shoot from the road, through a small gap. Greatly cropped, of course : ) Looks like it had had a fairly recent snack, judging by the colour of its beak. Takes about an hour and a quarter to drive here, north of the city. It was unbearably cold and I was still on the verge of shivering eight hours after getting home. As I said, not the wisest outing when sick : ) Can't wait to do it again, though, especially as our weather is supposed to warm up for a few days.

This was a far-away shot and therefore is very heavily cropped! However, I am SO thrilled to have finally seen a Northern Hawk Owl and, as an added bonus, to get a few photos of it. Nothing great or spectacular, but I'm still on cloud nine : ) We drove northwest of the city and spent the day driving around the back roads hoping to see a Great Gray Owl and maybe even a little Northern Hawk Owl. Not many birds of any kind to be seen but, right at the end, we found this little beauty. It was perched on a very distant tree in a farmer's field. A few of us plodded through snow near the fence line and managed to get some shots. (The snow had quite a thick crust on top, so every step or two, you broke through the crust and plunged into deep snow - roll on spring!). It was extremely windy and chilly - hard to hold the camera - which is why the owl is all puffed up. Then, suddenly, it flew and landed on a fence post by the road where the cars were parked, just 10' from the rest of our group! I would have been able to get the most amazing close-ups, sigh ... These owls are rare to uncommon year-round in Alberta, and they are one of the most sought-after birds in Alberta.

I still have other, unposted photos of this Northern Hawk Owl. This one is a little different, as the owl is perched on a fence. This was taken on the second outing, with a friend, to see these fascinating birds of prey. This owl species is 38-43 cm (15" to 16.9") in length and 80-90 cm (31.5" to 35.4") in width, and is rare to uncommon in Alberta.

I've been so lucky that I've had two outings to see these rare to uncommon Northern Hawk Owls, north west of our city. A different friend took me with them and both times we were blessed with deep blue sky and sunshine. These owls are so fascinating and aren't fazed at all by humans. My photos are distant ones but cropped heavily : ). Their expressions are varied and rather amusing.

A friend very kindly invited me to go looking today for the Northern Hawk Owl, NW of Calgary. I had been lucky enough to see one on 31st January in a different location (but not all that far away from today's location), but my photos were more distant than those taken today. Actually, we saw a second Northern Hawk Owl today, just down the road from the owl in this photo. These owls are rare to uncommon year-round in Alberta, so it was definitely a thrill to see them. Don't you just love those piercing eyes? Actually, this species of owl is quite curious and unfazed by humans. This is one of the most sought-after birds in Alberta, so I feel very privileged. It is an irruptive species - commonly seen in some winters and rarely in others.

A second distant and heavily cropped photo of this rare to uncommon (in Alberta) Northern Hawk Owl. This was the first time I had really seen one and the first chance I'd ever had to photograph one. It was so high up in the tall tree, that I couldn't see which way its head was turned and I ended up with rather too many head-turned sideways shots : ) Seen in the Water Valley area, northwest of the city and of Cochrane. The weather was sunny enough, but the wind was strong and cold.

There are plenty of trees in the area where these Northern Hawk Owls are hanging out at the moment, yet some of their favourite perches are on top of hydro poles. Makes for really ugly photos, LOL, but yesterday it was more or less these poles or nothing. Hope you don't get too fed up of seeing photos of these rare to uncommon birds - I always know that I may never get another chance to see one. I have admired photos of Northern Hawk Owls, taken by other people, for a long time and always longed to see one for myself. it was such a thrill to see three of these owls yesterday afternoon, northwest of the city. We were lucky enough to watch one of the owls swoop down from one of these poles, land in the snow where it captured a mouse/vole and then fly off to a tree with its catch.

A couple of friends very kindly invited me to go with them today to see if we could find the Northern Hawk Owls. No sign of any of them. Another friend told us that he had just been talking with the owner of a house that is at that location, and apparently the owls have only been seen maybe twice in the last week. So, we are not sure what is going on. Anyway, I decided to upload this shot taken on 28th February - this little guy/gal was perched on top of this VERY tall pole, so had to crop : ) Kind of looks cute, puffed up against the cold. LOL, my first thought was that s/he looks as if s/he's sitting under one of those old Hair Salon hairdryers - no idea if they still use those things.