Northern Hawk Owl!
Credit: Jeff Wells
Most people who know me well say that I am not an excitable person. But the first time I ever saw a Northern Hawk Owl I was so excited I could not speak. I was probably 14 or 15 and stuffed into the back of a tiny two-door car on a birding expedition. In the front were two 70 year old ladies, one of them my first birding mentor. A fog of heavy perfume filled the car as they excitedly chattered and I sat quiet and a little bored in the back.
Then far ahead I spotted a relatively large bird on top of a tall spruce. “Probably a crow,” I thought to myself as we pulled closer and closer. Suddenly it moved its body to show a distinctive silhouette and I knew immediately that it was a bird I had only dreamed of seeing, a bird from a far away place called the Boreal.
But I couldn’t seem to say what it was. All I could do was to extend my arm towards the windshield, my finger pointing toward the bird, and stammer,” It’s a…it’s a… it’s a…”-
Inez pulled the car over immediately turned, wide-eyed to look at me.
“Jeff, what is it?”
Two wonderful grandmotherly faces stared at me with concern.
I gulped. “It’s a…a…it’s a hawk owl!”
I’m not alone in the level of excitement that a Northern Hawk Owl—a 100% Boreal bird -can generate when one makes its way to southern Canada or the northern U.S.
A Northern Hawk Owl was discovered several weeks ago only a 40-minute drive from where we live in Central Maine. Already hundreds of people had enjoyed watching it.
Credit: Jeff Wells
Here’s a quick recording I shot through the telescope:
We decided to take our six-year-old son and his buddy down to see it too.
Northern Hawk Owls are usually unfazed by humans. That may be because there is a good chance that they may have never seen our species in their remote Boreal breeding grounds. Unlike most owls, they also hunt throughout the day and prefer to sit in the open on the top of a tall perch.
All of that makes them easy to see.
The kids were thrilled of course. My wife (alias Mama Bird) has also written a fun piece about the experience which you can see at her blog at:
http://raisingmaine.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=10683
Check out this video of the kids watching the owl through the telescope:
January 19th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Perhaps the only thing better than seeing a hawk owl is seeing kids watching a hawk owl. Great story, and wonderful video!
-Mike
January 24th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Reading this brought tears to my eyes, from the moment you saw this owl as a child to the children’s excitement in the video. Beautiful story about the treasures of nature and how our love for it begins!
January 31st, 2009 at 1:44 am
Hi Jeff,
My first encounter with a hawk owl was similarly notable, though much later in life. On the George River in 2005, while paddling the solo boat in a seven person party, I took my first ever wilderness expedition spill when I hesitated above a large hole that had swamped two of the tandem boats that I was following (including a World Whitewater Kayak Champion). Without the mass of the tandems I lacked the momentum to punch through the hole and was eaten.
The trauma of being thrown into the cold and powerful current of the George River shook my confidence, and as we proceded downstream I secretly dreaded the next rapid.
As we approached it I reminded myself that I really could do this stuff and went for it. Spinning into the shore eddy below the rapid after a successful run I was feeling a bit of an especially intense adrenaline high when the form of a large bird prominently silhouetted against the sky struck me. All thoughts of the rapid were instantly gone as I dove for my binoculars and then my camera (which had miraculously survived the swim in an open bag – another story). It was, as I suspected, a hawk owl – my first. My binoculars were foggy, but I happily watched him for some while. The photos were pathetic, but nonetheless the experience was wonderful and needless to say, all doubts and worries were left behind in that eddy.
Our 2006 George River expedition was supported by BSI. Our 2007 expedition helped establish the Lake Superior National Maritime Conservation Area; the largest expanse of protected fresh water in the world and our third 2008 expedition was to Lake Kamestastin in Labrador at the invitation of the Innu Tshikapisk Foundation.
Hoping to do a bird census in Labrador this spring at Lake Kamestastin. A meteorite impact crater it has a pocket of Boreal Forest amid a sea of tundra in the Labrador Barrens. The Innu tell us that the birds use it as a stopover on migration by the hundreds of thousands (along with the caribou, which is why the Innu are there). There has never been a bird census there, despite it sounding like a major migratory feature on the eastern flyway.
We work with Dr. Stephen Loring of the Smithsonian`s Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History.
I`ve heard much about you,
Good story about the hawk owl
Rob
February 5th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Enjoyed your recount of seeing your first hawk owl, and then watching the video of the children’s reactions was quite moving.
February 12th, 2009 at 3:18 am
[...] Northern Hawk Owl! | BSI Blog [...]
February 14th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Wow Jeff. Love the story and can totally identify with your experience. Not because I have had the same experience but because seeing a Hawk Owl would be a lifer for me and I get excited when I see any raptor. When I do see my first Hawk Owl I will think back on your post and smile.
Excellent captures of the Hawk Owl and a super story makes for a very enjoyable read. Seeing the excitement of the kids makes it even more fun!
February 24th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Thanks all for you great comments and Rob, I loved your Hawk Owl story! Sounds like the Labrador trip will be amazing and would love to hear about what you find.