I know this is just a portrait shot but I really love this image. It just captures the magic of a Great Gray to me and the subtlety of the white and dark around the face just pops!
So here is the classic image of a Great Gray on the hunt. This bird has just left a perch and has tone on a meal!
In Algonquin Park I came across this fresh set of plunge marks in the snow from what I concluded was very likely a successful hunt by a Great Gray (which had been seen exactly here just a few hours before). Note the mouse tracks coming from the bottom left which turn abruptly in the middle top and then end suddenly!!!
This was a pretty good year for Barred Owls which meant it wasn't a good year for small owls. The Barreds will often predate the smaller Saw-whets and even Boreals that are roosting in the same wood lot. This one was near Montreal.
It took a lot of searching but eventually I had superb views of two Northern Saw-whet Owls. Unfortunately birders had been withholding information on these sightings. As someone who straddles both communities I find that practice incredibly short sighted. Indeed in the end it meant missing a Boreal owl in Ottawa. My view on this is simple - withholding information on birds is not part of the hobby and is shameful and short sighted.
After a lot of effort, on my last morning I finally found this Northern Hawk Owl. It was in a spot within a kilometer of where the owl had been seen two or three times over a two month period. This site was clearly a more reliable location as this post had a lot of pellets right underneath it!
No comments:
Post a Comment