Obsession for Owls

Mar 18

Over the years I have grown very fond of birds of prey and particularly Owls. I can not count how many hikes I have had searching and scouting for those beautiful birds. I live a bit outside of major cities in Norway and from time to time we get good years for owls. When rodents are high in number owls tend to be the same.

We have a couple of species in Norway that are active during the day time but for the most part owls are nocturnal. Over the last few years we have seen quite a lot of Northern Hawk owl and Tawny owls are pretty common at least to hear during the night or winter evenings. In order to find these owls it requires time, research or building and hanging bird boxes.

I have had a couple of owl boxes up for some years but I have not been able to get any habitants yet - fortunately there are others in the proximity with them same interest and now and then I come across a box or have friends message me if they see owls or get owls in their own boxes. I also use a website where people report their findings. Many times I hike to locations where owls are observed but owls can be very hard to spot. The easiest to spot in my experience is the Northern Hawk owl but that depends if they are in the area as they migrate over long distances. They are often perched at the top of a tall tree and have a characteristic shape.

Today is was very lucky to get a text from a friend with an image of three tawny owlets very close to my house. I had to go and check them out. With a map reference I found the youngsters pretty quickly - thanks to a good friend.

Tawny owllets are often found near the owl boxThe great grey owl is usually a rare sight around where I live. We have had years with many nesting couples in Norway over the last couple of years and particularly close to Elverum. I have not managed t… — Tawny owllets are often found near the owl box
The great grey owl is usually a rare sight around where I live. We have had years with many nesting couples in Norway over the last couple of years and particularly close to Elverum. I have not managed to go there yet but I am hoping that this will be a good year, but I was able to get a sighting and some images a couple years back close to Moss in Norway. That particular owl became quite famous and stayed in the same area for a long time.

In November this year I visited a sight where I had spotted a Northern Hawk Owl multiple times. It was quite a hike to get there and a trip I did at least 8 times over the duration of a month. I spotted the owl pretty much every time but it was most often sitting high in a tree or the weather was not great. But I had two days with the owl where everything was perfect. It was sunny, the owl perched close to ground and was actively hunting. The owl being concentrated om feeding allowed me to come close and to position myself to get some good frames.

Hawk owl in front of the last light of the sun

Experiencing the Hawk owl while it is active is really outstanding. It is impossible to hear it move between sites and I found myself often to spot it right above my head and I did not even notify that it hat perched right above me.

I was able to get pretty close to the hawk owl this particular day

Sometimes I need to take a little mental break from owls because I catch myself studying every tree I pass - but non the less I love these birds and have a lot of projects I want to undertake. I hope you enjoyed reading.