We caught up with this owl a week after we had found her and a few miles away from the original spot in yet another series of farm fields
When the owl spots/hears prey they go all penguin/bowling pin
It was amazing to see this bird launch itself like a rocket. It folded it's wings and jumped/fell off the branch and shot down towards it's prey, opening it's wings and using it's tail to direct itself on target.
Hey, did I just see something over to my left?
Soaring in for a landing
Flight Photo
Owls eyes are fixed in their heads in a forward position, so the owl has to turn it's head to see. They have built in compensators for this, their hearing is fantastic, their sight is fantastic too. They have two sets of eyelids to keep their eyes clean
It is amazing to watch these majestic birds launch themselves from the deep snow whether they catch their prey or not
On the wing
Eye Spy With My Little Eyes...
Locked and loaded Northern Hawk Owl spots some prey and starts to bank towards an eventuality that works out well for the owl and not so well for it's prey
This Northern Hawk Owl would repeatedly return to this branch as it was the highest spot nearest the field it was hunting it's prey in.
Their wings are just huge
This bird was very skittish and we couldn't get anywhere near as close as we were with the other owl. There might have been a territorial thing going on as the birds were relatively close to each other.
It turns out that Snowy Owls are very large with upwards of a five foot wingspan
Loved the position I caught the bird in while it was cleaning itself.
As the sun set, I grabbed this image specifically because I knew I wanted this particular shot.
I wish I had video of these take offs, as the owl would sort of roll their wings in and out but it was so fast you really couldn't see it
What an incredible experience this was. My first Snowy Owl Ever! We found her just sitting in the field just like this. Near St Cloud Minnesota, January 2014
Fresh from our Snowy Owl Hunt, we went out the next weekend to find some Great Grey Owls and came up blank of them, but hit the jackpot with this Northern Hawk Owl, which as I understand now, are much rarer than the GGO
In Flight
Coming in for a landing
Their eyes are really that color yellow, amazing!
Snowy Owl Portrait, January 2014
It turns out that trying to make images of a Northern Hawk Owl is not easy. These birds are FAST!
Portrait in Flight
Apparently the owl was set to ignore the no hunting rule
The owls have feathers on their feet as they spend most of their lives on the arctic tundra and there are no trees there
This owl is in the process of launching out of the snow. One quick downbeat of the wings will launch the owl into the air