Northern Hawk Owl Peru NY

Yesterday was my first day off in a month , I was planning to go birding when a report of a possible Boreal Owl in Eden Vermont was posted to Vt ebird. I thought that I would go to Eden and try to find the Boreal Owl then head over to Peru NY and locate the Northern Hawk Owl, two new birds in one day would make for a fun day off. How ever mother nature had a different plan, it was snowing like crazy at 9 AM when I arrived in Eden. All the birds were hunkered down out of site, snowing like mad and the roads were a mess, after looking around for half an hour I headed on my way to Peru NY in hopes of finding the Northern Hawk Owl there.The Northern Hawk owl was right where it has been for the last two weeks, I just sat and watched it for awhile. It didn't seem bothered by the traffic (moderate) and as I watched from across the street (in my car) the owl barely took notice of me and kept hunting for food. I watched it flying from pole to pole, sometimes diving to the ground only to come up empty. Then the owl took off and landed in a birch tree just up the street, time to start photographing. I moved my car to the side street (Quaker Highlands) to get as good a possession as possible and to be out of the traffic on the main road. This was not the best possession with the bird facing way (butt shots) so I just sat and waited for my chance to come. Three Crows just up the road helped speed things up by causing the owl to repossession in the tree , these last two images and the header image all happened in about a minute before the crows caused the owl to move down the road to a new pole and safety.

Good Birding to all!

Peter

All images copyright 2009 Peter Manship LLC