Solar storm as seen over Crex Meadows, Wisconsin
Female Great Horned Owl outside her nest cavity
Chicago, Illinois, taken February 2024
Northern Hawk-Owl and his many admirers
Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota, taken February 2024
Gray skies over the Bog, Sax-Zim, Minnesota
Taken February 2024
Late afternoon --> evening in eastern Minnesota
Taken February 2024
Happy Superb Owl Sunday from this (self-found!!) Northern Hawk-Owl hunting voles in Superior National Forest
A walk in the woods, Illinois
Taken December 2023
Fairbanks, Alaska
Taken June 2023
Short-eared Owl hunting
Taken on the North Slope, June 2023
A young Snowy Owl hunting along the shore of Hudson Bay
Nunavut, Canada, October 2017
Long-eared Owl roost, Palatine, IL
Taken January 2022
Winter in the North Woods of Minnesota
Taken December 2021
A lot of you seemed interested in my last bird-related post, so my second round of birding in two days:
Today I took my roommate to a park along the Chicago lakefront to show her her first ever Snowy Owl. It’s been a surprising irruption year for Snowies in Chicago so far, with individuals found all along the lakefront over the last few weeks. The best way to find them is to scan along the breakwalls for white blobs—I have a spotting scope that I use, but several birders have been lucky enough to see them from car or bus along LSD.
This bird had clearly found a meal earlier this morning, because it was out of view for a few hours and, when it returned, had dried blood on its face. Contrary to a popular myth, these birds almost certainly didn’t fly south because of food scarcity in the arctic. These kinds of irruptions usually occur after boom-years in arctic food sources (primarily lemmings) that lead to more offspring, which then travel south due to competition in the north.
Snowy Owl, Rainbow Beach, Chicago.
12/03/21
Owl banding at Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana
Taken November 2021
Anonymous asked:
Barn owls are creepy. They look like the owl version of aliens, if that makes any sense (and no, I don't say it because of that movie with Milla Jovovich about aliens and owls, I have not seen that yet)
I had no idea there was a movie about Milla Jovovich and owls before this ask, but I definitely agree, Barn Owls are one of the most alien looking creatures around. Also I googled The Fourth Kind and I feel like it's very telling that the Barn Owls don't really need much CGI to make them look like aliens.... and now I want to see this movie.
Anonymous asked:
top 5 owls?
Birds are a weird category for me, because I’m into birding enough that I don’t like to have favorites I haven’t seen (so much of what makes a bird my favorite is about the experience finding and watching it). So here are my top 5 owls I’ve seen—but my most wanted owl in the world that I haven’t seen is Blakiston’s FIsh-Owl.
All photos below are mine!
1. Northern Hawk-Owl
2. Boreal Owl
3. Great Grey Owl
4. Northern Saw-Whet Owl
5. Long-eared Owl