Northern Hawk Owl

© Brian Carson

Published: January 24, 2011

Brian Carson of Abbotsford, British Columbia, captured this great shot of a Northern Hawk Owl on December 30, 2010. The bird turned up on Westham Island south of Vancouver in early December and was still being seen in mid-January. More than 260 bird species have been recorded on the island, which is home to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Carson tells us that the hawk owl (Surnia ulula) “is seldom ever seen here. Maybe every five years or so.”

“We usually have a lot of rain, so it was nice to have a sunny day with the blue sky background for this picture,” he said. He used a Canon 40D and a 300mm IS lens with a 1.4x teleconverter.

See a Northern Hawk Owl in a V-shaped dive
See a Northern Hawk Owl at the Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota

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