Northern Hawk Owl Hunting

 

So far, ive struggled to find any owl species besides the three year-round residents. Great horned owls, barred owls, and the eastern screech owl. Over the past 2 winters, ive focused on trying to cross the snowy owl, and short eared owl off of my list with no luck. These 2 species are occasionally spotted along the North Shore and Cape Cod. Around early January, though, there was another owl spotted. The nothern hawk owl. Both the short eared, northern hawk, and snowy owls are forced to migrate into the United States as snow becomes too thick in Canada, and the ground becomes unhuntable, starving them out. A member of the New England Young Wildlife Photographers group chat uploaded photos of the owl, only specifying that the owl was somewhere in Maine. I immediately started searching around the internet for the exact location. Ebird helped me narrow it down, and then I confirmed the location with another photographer who had been up there. For the owl's safety, I won't be specifying the location on my blog.

I finally committed to making the early morning drive to Maine on February 5th. I decided to set my alarm to 2:45am, and be out my door by 3. I had reached the location by around 7:30. The spot was a ranch, with a few barns, surrounded by acres and acres of snowy meadow, which was probably well-saturated with prey animals. When I arrived, there were already 2 cars parked along the roadside. They were both wildlife photographers who had spent the night in hotels, and had shot the owl the day before as well. They pointed out the owl to me, which looked like a tiny speck, in an oak tree along the opposite end of the feild. In this photo, you can barely make out the owl, as a tiny dark dot right above where the 2 barn roofs meet...

For almost a full hour, It sat in the tree, preening itself. We were anxious for it to fly, so we could get shots. During this time, a few other cars arrived. a crowd was beginning to accumulate along the roadside, everyone waiting for the owl to move.

Finally, it dove off it's perch, and headed in our direction. It landed in a young (sumac?) tree right behind the barn. I could now get some barely identifiable shots of it...

It flew again, back towards near where it had started, except now much closer to the road. Again, it stayed here for a long time. By this point, it was almost 9:00. Maybe I shouldn't have woken up so damn early. It hopped down to a lower branch after a few minutes...

 

Eventually, it took off...

It only flew about 50 feet, and landed in a locust tree, right above the road.

All of a sudden, the owl darted off the branch, and shot like a rocket down towards a nearby house. It swerved sharp, and seemed to crash into the road, flapping its wings violently and then regaining its balance. A meadow vole had tried to cross the road, but was killed by the hawk owl. Luckily, it took its kill to a small birch snag that was barely outside the road's guardrail. A perfect spot for photos...

The northern hawk owl gets its name from its hawk-like hunting strategy. Unlike most owls, hawk owl are diurnal, and are only active during daylight. They have also evolved to have symmetrical ear placement, leading scientists to believe they lack the hearing abilities of nocturnal owls. Next, it decapitated it's victim, and begun tearing off pieces of meat.

By now, there were probably 20 to 30 people watching the action. 

It finished its meal by swallowing it hole.

...and then darted off its perch again to grab another one. The second kill was made in a thick patch of Japanese knotweed. Another vole.

 

I attempted another flight shot...

Then, it spent the rest of the morning, pretty much all of it's time until noon, flying from tree to tree behind the barn, and I decided to call it a day. Here is a compilation of all my footage from that day...