Friday, October 29, 2010

Long-eared Owl Lilydale

Minnesota can be a pretty cool place to live if you like owls. We have quite a variety of different owls that can be found in different places through out the state depending upon the time of the year. For instance, we frequently see northern hawkowls in the northern part of the state during the winter. They often come down from Canada when there are shortages of food. Boreal owls and great greys also can be seen in the northern part of the state during winter, but they are a lot harder to find. Snowy owls sometimes come down from the Arctic during the winter, but they often travel further south then the other northern owls. Great horned, bared, eastern screech owls, saw whet owls, long and short eared owls can also be found around the state. from time to time we even get a burrowing owl or two that comes over from the Dakotas.
Last year I was lucky enough to get my first pics of a wild long-eared owl. Although not rare in Minnesota the long-eared owls are not often seen. They are a nocturnal owl that can hunt in almost complete darkness. During the day they usually perch in dense woods. We found this long-eared after last years Hasting's Christmas bird count in Lilydale Park, it had been spotted in a previous Christmas Bird Count. It was perched in a pretty dense evergreen tree. The resolution is not that great because it was already dark out when I took the shots so I cranked up the ISO on the camera.

12 comments:

KaHolly said...

Don't you just love it when you are in the right place at the right time??

jabblog said...

What a beautifully marked face!

New Leaf said...

Amazing! Gorgeous coloring on this owl. Thanks for sharing your capture!

Have a great weekend. :D

Brad Myers said...

Great captures, I have been many places photographing wildlife but I have no owl photos, maybe someday.

Shahz said...

i so envy it. i don't know if we have that kind of owl here.. so adorable...

DeniseinVA said...

He is beautiful and these are great photos. I look forward to the day I see an owl out in the wild.

Anonymous said...

What a fabulous face that owl has. Great shots!

Cecilia Artista said...

Fantastic pics! It must be wonderful to see this gorgeous long-eared owls and to take photos like this!

Kay L. Davies said...

Beautiful photos. I've never taken a picture of an owl. How super for you to get a chance to photograph a long-eared owl.
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Carole Barkett said...

what a great shot, I've never seen on except in photos.

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

Great capture! We can often hear owls here at night, but I've never seen them.

Jim Ryan said...

Given the conditions Jeff, that is a great rendition you pulled off!