Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Nova the Northern Saw-whet Owl

Nova the Northern Saw-whet Owl
 Our newest education bird at The Raptor Center is this cute little northern saw-whet owl. As their name implies the northern saw-whet are birds that are found in the north. Their range includes southern Canada, northern U.S. and parts of the Rocky Mountains. Northern saw-whets often migrate south during the winter when food becomes scarce in their northern range. They typically eat mice, particularly deer mice, which they catch while hunting at night.  
Nova the Northern Saw-whet Owl
 Nova is a female northern saw-whet owl. She was named recently in a public naming contest. The name Nova is short for Nova Scotia which is a province in which the northern saw-whet was first discovered. At that time that part of Canada was a French colony called Acadia which is why the scientific name for the Northern saw-whet is Aegolius acadicus. Nova is unable to be released back to the wild because she is blind in one eye which is pretty noticeable in the photo above.


Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

17 comments:

Linda said...

They are banding saw-whets at our local bird center and this is prime time for them. They do upwards of 50 per night.

Unseen India Tours said...

Owl's are my favorite and i love such shots !! Fantastic !!

Unseen India

Kay L. Davies said...

She is a beauty and so appropriately named. I'm glad she is having a chance to live despite her handicap.
K

HansHB said...

A nice post, - well done!

Roger Owen Green said...

handsome creature
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Adam Jones said...

That's a real beauty.

EG CameraGirl said...

So sweet!

mick said...

Great photos of a beautiful little owl.

Neil said...

She looks so small and is very beautiful.Great you are able to use her for education.

Linda said...

just marvelous.......

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

OMG! So cute (I'm sure if I were the bird, I probably would not like being referred to as, cute!).

Stewart M said...

Blind in one eye she may be, but she still looks sharp!

Great picture - seeing owls up close like this is a real treat.

Thanks for linking to WBW

Stewart M - Australia

carol l mckenna said...

Love all of natures creatures and you always photograph them so well ~ Great for ABC ~ (A Creative Harbor)

Anonymous said...

Nova is a beautiful bird!

amanda said...

Nova is beautiful, wonderful that she can help educate us humans about her kind.
Thank goodness for the owls eating the dear mice.. Our area has become so affected by the "deer tick" ..which our doctor informed us carries disease not because of actual deer, but mice - deer mice.

Pat said...

Great shots. What a cute little owl!

Unknown said...

Nova looks very much like a Northern Saw-Whet Owl that my wife and I came upon out in a park here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This was the first time as birders that we had ever seen a Saw-Whet Owl. Fortunately, we had our camera with us and got some good pictures and video. We have posted them for anyone interested at: http://frametoframe.ca/photo-essay-northern-saw-whet-owl-sighting