Snowy Owl |
It is a magnificent bird; these pictures don't do it justice.
It sat there quietly, its head swiveling around, constantly looking for any motion that indicated lunch was available.
We got lucky - it saw something on the ground and took off in flight.
En-route to Lunch |
Swooping down it scooped up a small creature.
Gotcha! |
And took it the top of a nearby house where, before doing anything else, it looked all around to make sure no other larger bird noticed its capture and might come along to take it away.
Did anyone see that? |
Seeing that all was clear, it separated the animal from all the grass that came up with it in its talons.
Cleaning the Wheat from the Chaff |
It then became apparent that it had selected a mouse for its lunch time meal.
It carefully positioned its fine cuisine in its claws for a flight to its dining spot.
Preparing for Flight |
With Lunch in the Cargo Bay |
All Clear? |
The First Course |
After that came the main course, gobbling up the rest of the beast.
The Entree |
Being very courteous, it spent a moment to clean up any scraps it spilled on the picnic table, and then flew back to its perch for an afternoon siesta.
The Snowy Owl is the largest - by weight - of the North American Owls. They spend their summers far north of the Arctic Circle, where they hunt rodents in 24-hour daylight. This must be what has adapted them to hunt in daylight hours during the winter rather than being nocturnal like our full-time resident owls. In the winter they migrate to the entire northern third of continental America, preferring large areas of open ground. I understand they have been observed around the Manchester Airport.
So that was my adventure with the Snowy Owl. With a touch of precipitation yesterday, I'm happy to say that the owls around Lake Wicwas are snowy also! There was just enough new snow to get out on the skis; tomorrow I'll post what I found out on Lake Wicwas this weekend.
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