Grand Marais Harbor

Yesterday we had a beautiful sunrise over the Grand Marais Harbor. Usually right before big storms we get beautiful sunrises. Now the storm is in progress and the snow is piling up.

Boreal Owl

The owl irruption continues. As I write this Karla and I are watching a boreal owl right outside our kitchen window. When I took this photo last week a dozen chickadees started to dive bomb the boreal. The look the owl gave was either caused by the chickadees or it was trying to tell me to back off so it could get some sleep.

Great Gray Owl 001

Great Gray owls have now moved in along the shore.

Great Gray Owl 002

This week over a dozen were sighted from Duluth to Grand Portage. We have seen Great Grays three times this week. This Great Gray was finding mice and voles in a field just a mile from our house. The owner of the field watched as it caught mice right in front of their house; not an experience that very many people get to see. I am jealous.

Great Gray Owl 003

An owl’s facial disc is so flat that when it turns it head you wonder what happened to its face.

Great Gray Owl 005

Like I mentioned last week, it is the facial feathers that transmit the sounds back to the ears. One ear is higher than the other giving the owl the ability to use triangulation to locate the sound of a running mouse under the snow. The feathers act like a satellite disc giving the owl the ability to hear sounds that we couldn’t even think of hearing.

Great Gray Owl 006

A Great Gray can hear a mouse running under a foot and a half of snow half a football field away. When you think about it, it is amazing.

Great Gray Owl 007

Great Gray Owl 008