From Ron Kemp
This morning I went to the park with high hopes. After spending some time there and taking pictures of the usual birds I decided to take my wife’s advice and took a long drive through the countryside. I drove for what seems like forever and saw nothing.Finally when had all but given up came across a bunch of Redpolls and was able to get some shots off. started to loop back towards home when thought saw what looked like a small bird in a tree( this happens often and in a lot of cases ends up being leafs that have not fallen or a wasp nest. I jokingly refer to these as tree birds. I also sometimes come across rock birds and shadow birds Lol).
When I pulled out the long lens I was surprised to see it actually was a bird. In fact for the second weekend in a row I have come across a lifer for me. Last weekend was an owl as well. Now for some reason after seeing it and believing it to be a Boreal owl I double checked in the Merlin App and it stated Northern saw whet Owl. As I have never seen either am at a loss and am going to go with Boreal, if I am wrong could someone correct me please.
It is indeed a beautiful Boreal!
I didn’t know what a Redpoll was, but it’s a type of finch that lives pretty fast up north. Here’s a photo:
So many owls look like they’re trying to blow up the viewer with their mind. This one looks like it might succeed.
They do pretty much cycle between sleep and murder the majority of the year. Then they take 2 months to raise a loving family where they’re devoted to each other 24/7, just to go back to the murder/sleep cycle until next year.