Monday, March 8, 2010

Northern Hawk Owl in flight

I promise to get back to posting about my trip to Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala soon. Meanwhile, however, I can’t resist sharing this flight series of a Northern Hawk Owl flying off the perch and hovering over the sound of a potential prey item under the snow, before calling off the hunt (this time I guess it wasn't worth the hunt) and returning to the perch.

Northern Hawk Owls, and other owls, have some wonderful adaptations for hunting in this fashion, including the comb-like projections on the outer primary feathers that reduces the noise of wind drag, making their flight virtually silent so when they hover over the sound of a vole under the snow they don’t get distracted by the sound of their wings.








Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. Excellent series.Jake and I had the chance to photograph a Hawk Owl,but only while it was perched.These are beautiful little owls.
    Blessings,Ruth

    ReplyDelete

 
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