Hawks and Owls

About a half hour from here there are a number of farms on a series of high jumbled ridges. Woodland grows in the valleys between the ridges, but the higher terrain has all been cleared and farmed for 150 years. Although many of those farms had been dairy farms, few are now. Most of the land produces hay, row crops or pastures beef cattle.

Late one afternoon H and I went to see the northern harriers that hunt the fields in winter and hoped to see some wintering short-eared owls that take over the night shift. Although there was but a gentle breeze at the house, up on the open ridges the wind was strong. It wasn’t long before we saw a harrier hunting for meadow voles in a hayfield –

The wind was high and there were raptors aloft soaring on high – a red-tailed hawk accompanied by three harriers –

As the sky cleared a bit they were soon joined by an immature bald eagle accompanied by a much smaller harrier –

They were all too high for good photos and these harriers soaring close to a ridgetop were quite far from us –

There were no owls fighting the wind that day, but we went back on another evening when the sky was gray and the light bad; that evening both the harriers and the short-eared owls took to the air. Short-eared owls in flight resemble gigantic moths; they have long wide wings and are light in weight so they’re fast and buoyant. When they find prey they often turn quickly and make a vertical dive –

The owls frequently sought out perches on the dead stalks of common mullein or on fenceposts –

The birds were far away and the light poor so we headed home. Several days later when the light was better, hoping that the third time would be a charm, we went back late in the day, parked along the township road again and watched for hawks and owls. Great day in the evening when the northern harriers passed over as they headed to roost, first a male and then several females or juveniles –

The fading light brought out the short-eared owls to hunt the same fields that the harriers hunted during the day –

When the sky darkened further we headed home, leaving the owls to hunt through the night.