Northern Hawk Owl, Duluth, MN
According to reports, this Hawk Owl was the most reliable of the owls to find. He had been seen along Martin Road at a place called 'the dirt factory'. We had no idea what that meant, if that was a Minnesotan slang for something or something else. It turns out that the Dirt Factory was the name of this gravel/topsoil provider. We cruised the road and found him sitting atop a power pole near the road. He flushed from that roost and flew off about 100 yards to the top of a spruce. He is sitting just right of center at the top of the spruce in the photo above.
A snow mobile trail went right by his tree. Snow mobiles were clearly not concerning to this Hawk Owl, since he didn't flinch when crowds of noisy, blue-smoke emitting snow mobiles went by. We walked up the trail to get a closer look. We couldn't get that close due to the surrounding trees, but it was still nice to see him closer.
In this profile shot, you can see his long tail and the dark spot on the back of his head. He stayed put and we left him there as we headed back to the car.
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