Plight of the Northern Owls (w/pix)

******* important modification to the story*******

Im not going to change all the text in every note so Im just going to put in this header… Ive called the bioligist at the Rice Lake National Wildlife refuge (heart of owl central)… through disection of road kills they have determined that the majority of the Owls are in good shape and should survive the winter if they dont get road killed.. the body count of great grays on the roads is now over 500…..

below is the original text.. which was my opinion based on observation….. I was checking the facts almost at the same time suzuki asked for them below on this thread…. Im sure SOME of the Owls I seen were hurting… but I guess many of them were fine… and Im happy to hear that….. Id rather look like a dope and hear they are fine than look like a genius and hear that they are all dying….. I do feel much better about this now…. I called the Bioligst as soon as the station opened…

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Im sure you have all heard by now of the invasion of the Northern Owls… specifically the Great Gray and the Northern Hawk Owl… this is due to the cyclical nature of their prey population… the Vole population has crashed up north leaving untold numbers of starving predators… these Owls have come south trying to find food… In my opinion quite a few of them are on their last legs right now… so weak that they can be easily approached…. you could probably pet them if you wished… but of course you should not…. its a sad thing to see the forces of nature working on these Owls…. stranger yet is to see the hoards of birders and photographers photographing them… Im sure most of them have no clue how badly off these birds are right now….. those who have not spent a significant amount of time outside IN nature frequently have little understanding just how harsh and cruel it is… and that cute Ol’ Mr Owl is doing all he can to not drop dead in front of their camera lens…..

as you can tell I was greatly sadened to see such Noble birds in such a sorry plight….. I will share some photos with you so I can share the legacy of these desperate predators…. and if you wish to view them yourselfs…. I found them thickly occupying the area just NE of Mille Lacs between east running county rd 2 and 4… pretty much between 47 and 65… you cant hardly sneeze without knocking one of of a tree in some places… at one point I was able to view 15 individual Great Grays while standing in ONE spot….. most other places they are not so thick… they like sitting low… so keep your gaze down.. usually between 6-12 feet high…..(sometimes lower!)… they like sitting on the edge of open areas which is why they are often seen along road… heck I saw one sitting on a speed limit sign right on hwy 65!!

here is a link to an action series I shot of the Norhtern Hawk Owl on one of its hunts…..

http://www.digitalimagecafe.com/view_photo_critique.asp?src=10742

Im actually doing very little work on these photos.. practically out of camera… I just want to “rush” them out here… so if you are so inclinded you can view them in person… otherwise… just through “my eyes”… not nearly as amazing in photos….. but better than nothing….

Kenny, A friend of mine lives up near that area Deerwood / Garrisson and has been telling me there all around his house at times. he sent some photo’s of one on the ground with a mole/ mouse it had caught. Nice job with this story…… Later , Jeff

OK… I appoligize for the unfinished nature of these shots… like I mentioned.. Im rushing them to you… minimal work done on them…. think I have 3-4 more to get out… Im processing them and loading them asap!

dont you just love those brilliant blue Minnesota Winter skies? I wonder what the California and Florida birders I met ysterday thought of the subzero wind chills? I was out there no hat.. no gloves… they were easy to pick out.. they were the ones with parkas and some other SERIOUS winter clothing…. lol

Hey Everyone!… Id like to take a momment to welcome to the board a good friend (and possible relative!) of Mine… Croixman!.. aka Jeff…. hes been fishing the Croix up here all his life… he and his brother Scott know all the fish there by their first names!…. and have caught some monsters…. walleye, northerns and muskies!… oh.. and those pesky little channels that run over 20# too…. just lil fellers…. Im taking him (and Scott)down to Red Wing pretty soon once the “run” gets going good…. for their first trip on the Might Miss in that area…. hopefully I can get them into some fish! ok everyone.. dont hold it against Croixman that he knows me… hes actually a good guy!

Heres the Rare Northern Hawk Owl… unlike the Great Grays.. they like to sit HIGH… right on TOP of the highest branch in a tree.. this one is sitting on top of a spruce tree…. but it was a SHORT spruce tree… still the tallest thing he could find in the area….. they are very cool birds…. and clearly act very hawk like.. they hunt during the day for instance… but they look pretty owl like…. as you can see….. and quick on the wing like no owl you have ever seen.. breathtakingly quick on their turns.. they flight is sure and quick very much like a sharpshinned hawk…..

the posterchild for Fluffy not Stuffy…. this Owl is Fluffly on the outside… and Starving on the inside… look into his eyes… and you might start to see how he is “feeling”….

I was up on CR 4 a few weeks back and there where alot of birds. Just looking out my buddys window I counted 6. There was one even sitting on the corner fence post that would not even bother to move when the 4 wheelers went by.

It is funny Ken because I was going to email you at the time to let you know about the chance to photo some of these critters. Looks like you found your way up there. It was the last week in febuary that I was up there. When did you take the photos?

Hi Mike…

I was up there yesterday (saturday).. we left from North Branch at Dawn.. were up there early.. I personally shot over 700 photos.. these Owls are literally starving to death… and its hard to get a shot where you dont see it in their eyes… some pros (wildlife photographers) are even buying mice and tossing them out for the owls to eat (and them to photograph)… kinda weird…. particularly when you see a shot where a great gray is diving on a little black domestic mouse…. first time I saw one of those shots I thought “what the F***?” it was easy to see it was a domesticated mouse! Something about that deal makes me feel funny… and yet Ive been a fisherman all my life and think nothing of using bait…. and heck.. whos to say I wouldnt hook on a mouse if I thought it might catch me a bigun…. sooooo its not for me to point fingers… just be aware if you see a shot of a great gray diving on a mouse it was a setup shot… its VERY easy to do right now….. and at least the Owl gets a meal out of it.. maybe enough to live another couple of days.. and thats what its all about I guess….

well thats owl for now (I couldnt resist the pun!)… Ive got hundreds of shots.. but this is enough to give you some idea whats up there… and whats going on with these hapless critters…. still its quite a sight.. and if you got some time and want to see soemthing you might not see again…. its for sure worth doing…. otherwise… hopefully my shots were enough to give ya an idea whats up….

nice pics Ken.I heard about these owls a few weeks back and the food supply in canada. It said there were some owls but i didn’t know there were that many actually coming down. Its nice to have someone show you pictures of them when this is happening, i hope theres not a heavy loss. Thanks

Ken the sequence on the other site is fantastic. You have a talent.

The story I heard on these birds was that they where showing up0 to the area because there was food there and not any where they had been. Thought it had something to do with the lack of snow cover on the sides of the roads around Aitkin county. Since at one time there was a good strip of land along side of the roads with no snow that this was ware they where looking for the mice and such to come out. In turn this was causing a few car/bird problems along some of those roads. It would not suprise me that with the numbers of birds in the area they have chewed threw the local supply of mice by now. You would think that if there was no food they would just fly on to where there was some.

CR 4 is also know for haveing a good suply of eagles showing up in the spring time. I think that might have something to do with the couple of turkey farms in the area. My old school buddies from up there have told me about seeing groups of eagles in there turkey feilds from time to time that have hit the double digits.

yeah Mike.. it was cnty 4 where we saw the MOST owls.. one spot in particular.. there was a caravan of photographers parked along both sides of the roads… the land owner had even posted the land no tresspassing which is just as well.. there were gobs of owls out there hunting…. they did not really need to be disturbed…. and we did see an eagle!

Thnaks for sharing these pictures with us, they are really spectacular. It’s a shame that the reason we have an opportunity to see these owls is due to their desperate situation, but that is nature’s way. Several years ago i walked up on a Great grey Owl while deer hunting (near Orr, MN) and was impressed at the size of the bird, along with those creepy yellow eyes. I never thought I’d see one in the Cities! There was one hanging around Dodge nature center in Mendota Heights.

Rootski

ohhh… I forgot to mention.. that flight sequence I posted the link to… that occurred in less than a second! my camera shoot 5 frames a second on fully automatic and I only got him for 4 frames!… thats how QUICK those birds are… he flew out of the frame after that final shot where you can see him turning… it was so fast I couldnt possibly react! (except to go.. “duh… where did he go George? where did he go??”)… by the time I looked up from the camera.. (that took another second) he was already perched back on his tree 50 feet away! you gotta see these birds move to believe it!

Great article and photos.I caught a glimpes of a great grey at Lac La Rounge in the 70’s but none since.To bad most of them are in such bad shape.I have heard rumor of some being spotted along the Mississippi river near Praire Du Chein.Anyone in that area seen any?

Talked to a friend that lives on CR 4 this morning. There are still plenty of owls there. What he said does seem to be missing since the owls showed up are alot of the pigions that roost in is barn. Figures atleast half of them have disapeered. This is good news for my boat witch is stored in his barn.
He also commented on the birds suposedly mateing. Guess there are time when they spend a fair amount of time flying and swooping around together.
What ever the birds are doing they are puting on quite the show up there and people are coming from all over to see it. As Ken said plenty of out of state people.

Kudos once again on your wonderful eye for nature Ken. I have seen these Owls occassionally in my area too. They are truly spectacular birds!

Awesome photos Ken……
You have a great eye
Fantastic..
Thanks for sharing..

I had not heard they were starving. How do you know this?
They came this far south for food so I assume they stopped when they found it in adequate supply. I’ve seen a few this winter and they looked fine. Are some dying? What are the facts please.

Hi Suzuki…

Actually I was concerned enough to call the bioligist at the Rice Lake national wildlife refuge right in the heart of owl central… apparently Im mostly full of crap …. though a few are in bad shape (maybe 1-2%)… there is adequete food in that area for most of them… as you suggest…. whats REALLY killing them is cars… they have no fear of man or cars…. and fly slowly and LOW over roads… so far the body count stands at over 500 dead from road kills….

the bioligist have no idea how long this invasion will last… its once in a lifetime they say…. there has been people noted from 48 states so far viewing the owls.. many of them professional photographers….

apparently on a nationwise basis its a huge event.. and Aikin county is Owl central…. and cnty road 4 is ground zero…. so I hear right from the source…. the minnesota ornitholigist union is the place to check for facts on sitings….. Im sorry if my opinion was exagerated… you had to be there to see their reactions (or lack of them)… I reached the conclusion through my observation… they reached theirs through disection of roadkills…. but I KNOW I saw some that were hurting…. maybe I dont know HOW or WHY… I assumed starvation…. but there are many things that can and does happen to wild animals….

anyway… I was just getting ready to post my modification!.. so your timing was apt …….

dont “judge” this photo… its TERRIBLE… but its barely recognizable as a Great Gray (action shots are so hard, to get a 500mm with owl in screen and IN focus while flying.. well… it tough! I have way more failures than successes.. but this is a good example of why they get killed)… notice how LOW its flying over the road… they like to fly low and slow… this is apparently a great source of death for them…..

link to the MOU ==> http://www.cbs.umn.edu/~mou/

Thanks for all the information and beautiful pictures. The flight sequence is great. Even though you do not feel these are your best pictures I think they are a million times better then I could do. Thanks!!

Tamara

Funny you mention Aitken county. That’s where I saw my first 2 when the media was playing up the north shore. Saw one in eastern Wis last weekend sitting on a road sign. I have not seen the hawk owl yet. Just Grays.

As always thanks for some great photos Ken!!!!

I live on the eastside of Mille Lacs and have seen these birds around for the past few months. It’s not hard to see a number of them if you take a short trip around the back roads. Just today on my way to Aitkin I think I might have seen 4 on just the roads up to Aitkin and back……and I wasn’t even looking for them! They are all over……