Colours made for each other
William J. Bagnall Wilderness Park
A white barn from yesterday
A serious pose
Another view at William J Bagnall Wildlife Park
A quick shot just in time
Hepatica
Tree Swallow in nest cavity
Balsam Poplar male catkins
Yesterday's lucky encounter
Goldeneye on golden 'pond'
Aspen catkins
Great Horned Owl, sleeping after a night of huntin…
A danger to wildlife
Camouflaged House Sparrow at cavity
Hanging on to the old
Ring-necked Pheasant hoping to attract a mate
Catkins - a sure sign of spring
Fine feathers of a female Mallard
Beehive Ginger / Zingiber spectabile
Petunia
Strange but beautiful
Hadada Ibis / Bostrychia hagedash
Magical world of the forest
Into the sun at Frank Lake
Weathered and patched
Northern Shrike / Lanius excubitor
Without its camouflage
Pink Monkeyflower / Mimulus lewisii
Tucked away near the creek
Mountain Bluebirds have no blue pigment
Giant Scabius with purple bokeh
Downy Woodpecker at a park feeder
Least Chipmunk
Wooden bridge at Weaselhead
Downy Woodpecker
Great Gray Owlet from June 2012
When I used to find fungi
Window box at Reader Rock Garden
A touch of Fireweed
Spider on Strawflower
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Beauty lasts
Tree Swallow from the archives
Tangled
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248 visits
Northern Hawk Owl


It had been almost four years since many of us were fortunate enough to make visits to a family of Northern Hawk Owls, NW of Calgary. I was so thrilled to see this one on 8 February 2016, again NW of the city. It's a one and a half hour drive for me to get there, so not a drive I care to do very often - roughly 220+ km round trip. I haven't seen any reports about this owl being seen for many weeks now.
It was like a spring day that day, sunny, pleasant and not cold. I really wanted to get over there before we got our next snowfall and it seemed a perfect day to go. There were three or four cars parked at the side of the road when I arrived at the area and everyone let me know that the owl had been fairly close to the road just before I arrived, but had now disappeared way across a huge field. "You just missed it!" - never words one wants to hear, lol! However, I was assured it would be back - and that is what happened.
"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
It was like a spring day that day, sunny, pleasant and not cold. I really wanted to get over there before we got our next snowfall and it seemed a perfect day to go. There were three or four cars parked at the side of the road when I arrived at the area and everyone let me know that the owl had been fairly close to the road just before I arrived, but had now disappeared way across a huge field. "You just missed it!" - never words one wants to hear, lol! However, I was assured it would be back - and that is what happened.
"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
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