Val Cunningham

This must be the busiest time of year in the natural world: migration is well under way and winter sleepers have awoken. Most animal species are courting a mate and some are even starting their families.

Anyone who sees a great gray owl will never forget this large, almost ghostly bird that inhabits the boreal forest and far northern bogs.
It doesn’t happen often, but some of these owls visit our region in some winters, and this past winter the owls “irrupted,” allowing many to view their daytime hunts.

Doug Wonders’ trail cam caught an interesting photo some nights ago, indicating that there’s a great deal going on while we sleep.

A red fox runs along a shoreline, apparently not interested in the waterfowl in the open water near Kip Earney, who was intent on photographing the ducks. Oh, to be so lucky (and so prepared) to take a wonderful shot like this one. And so patient! Earney was outdoors for a long spell before the fox appeared.

On a winter day, a short-eared owl drops down into a grassland, talons extended to snag a vole, a dietary staple. A northern harrier – a hawk that often shares the same hunting territories and prey as short-eared owls – was hunting over the same field and decided to check things out.

Owls can be easier to spot in wintertime: great horned owls start hooting and nesting while we’re still in winter’s grip, and barred owls aren’t far behind. And an elusive screech owl may turn up at the entrance to tree cavity, soaking up the sun on a cold day.

Patience and persistence paid off recently for both a beautiful red-tailed hawk and photographer Bret Cool: Cool got a standout photo and the hawk got its prey. “I watched the hawk move from perch to perch for about an hour until it finally caught its meal,” Cool wrote.