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.