Last weekend, I got a text from Kit about a Northern Saw Whet Owl he found in east Windsor. It was seen on private property that he had permission to be on but essentially- he really wanted the location to not be disclosed - for the sake of the Owl and the property owner. What a beautiful owl! This is only the third time I've seen this owl in my six years of birding.
One thing I love about the photo above was that you can see its talons. This owl has zygodactyl feet which means it has four talons - two front facing and two rear facing which helps this species catch mice. Another note about this photo is that I took it from 15-20' away. It was 12 feet up in the tree and this was the only angle that I could see it. This photo is pretty heavily cropped.
Ken Kaufman recently wrote an excellent article about Northern saw whet Owls at the link below. I thinks its a great article because it mentions some of the history from Audubon's time to insights made on this species in the last 100 years. Point Pelee and Canadian ornithologist Percy Taverner are mentioned in this article as well as insights made by Great Lakes banding stations such as the one at HBMO. I recommend giving it a read!
http://www.audubon.org/news/how-stealthy-saw-whet-owl-duped-scientists-century
Good Birding!
Dwayne
Always nice to see. There are more out there than we think!
ReplyDeleteSweet! I saw someone found a couple of these at Lakeside Park in Kingsville recently.
ReplyDelete~Mark
It is always a treat to see these little rascals.....nice shot, too.
ReplyDelete