• Monday-What'sUP March 29 - 08:01 am

This picture seems to come alive as you stare into those intense glowing eyes! What a rare shot to capture, since in my experience, owls are generally skittish and aloof when it comes to humans invading their space. You can imagine Z-Man’s surprise, when he was able to approach within five feet of this hooter. As he drew nearer, his eyes started watering and he noticed that not only was there something dead underneath the owl, but there was also an awful stench surrounding it. That’s when the light bulb clicked on in his head... ’Aha, this fowl is sitting on a road kill skunk’. He quickly directed traffic around his vehicle which was angled in the middle of the highway, shot off about 40 pictures and then departed the company of his nocturnal friend and the permeating aroma. Now that’s a dedicated photographer, risking limb and his sense of smell! :->

Looks like a wise old owl! I knew many wise old owls in my life time.

I can't help it, he just looks cuddly. I don't suppose he'd take kindly to it, though! And I'm sure it would ruffle his dignity as well. What a beautiful shot...wisdom, dignity and a certain "I double dare you" in his gaze...

Neat picture - glad we can't smell it, tho.

Some years ago when the bald eagles were just coming back, I drove arround a corner North of Big Bay and found three crows and a bald eagle squabling over a road kill skunk in the middle of the road. I was a little dissapointed in our National Symbol that day. Then about that time the recipe book on preparing road kill meals came out.

That is some stare!

After feasting on a skunk...I would say Mr. Owl would be in need of a after dinner mint or two, or three, or a whole box!

Tex DeGraves and the Zman have photo trophies that even Steve Brimm would love to have. Congratulations to the master photographer...

Wow Zman! Excellent photo and what a great opportunity... but gee too bad he was so skunky! They are awesome birds! Thank you for sharing! Good Morning Everyone! What a lovely day!

What an awesome picture. I think owls are right up there with eagles when it come to looking pretty majestic.
Donn your last photo of the eagle in flight is quite a feat. Put your name in the lineup with Tax and Zman!

owls are awesome. I like them better than eagles cause they more directly help us, not only road kill, but controlling small rodents. My grandparents had a resident barn owl and never a mice problem. (course they had cats too!) And owls have that beautiful, haunting call.

Is it true that Finns particularly venerated the owl?

Awesome picture Z-Man!

Owlie liked people. Wonder if this guy is a relative? Then on the flip side if you just discovered your dinner smelled you might get a discussed look on your face too.

An interesting bit of trivia, according to the bird book.

Great Horned owlets are hatching now, so that in a few months when there is an abundance of small game, it will be a "plentyful" time to leave the nest on their own.

Speaking of up close and personal bird stories, you wouldn't believe this one unless we had a camera along.

Last weekend I was fishing with an old college roommate in the Northern end of the Indian river just north of titusville florida.

Just about dusk as we were getting ready to leave, a hawk comes swimming (yes I said swimming) up to the canoe and tries twice to jump in. It was soaked and shaking and could not fly. At first we thought it was injured, but when Ken put the net under it, it jumped on the rim and allowed him to lift it into the canoe where it jumped on the center rung.

Now what? we had this hawk (red shouldered we think) with a huge beak and long talons sitting between us 2 miles from shore.

But it sat there shaking and made no agressive moves or sounds but watched us like a Hawk! ;-)

We paddled the 2 miles to the launch and it sat watching us unload the canoe then I moved it to the dock again having it peacefully jump on the net rim. As he slowly dried out we could see it was not injured, just soaked, how it got int he water we have no idea, we moved it one more time to the safety of a tree before we left!

the first 10 shots of this album are the Hawk photos! Amazing! The rest are some bird and flower shots around the area wildlife refuge

https://pasty.com/pcam/albut13

Infinite Gratitude Z-MAN! Your shots are Divine!

Couple of weeks ago there was a barred owl
fishing for brook trout on the Garlic. Yes, fishing. I thought they ate rodents; when the rodents are under four+ feet of snow I guess trout
become Plan B. And you always gotta have a Plan
B! I tried to scare Mr. Owl off with a snowball
(hey, he was eating MY trout!) and when my feeble
throw landed in the river, he swooped down and
picked it out Amazing. And then went back to
fishing. It WAS Lent, event if the trout season was closed...

Nice shots Bob!

It sure didnt look like a hawk in the 1st 2 or 3 pictures.

I have been waiting a while for the next bird photo to share
something really neat with the good folks on this site. In my
March-April issue of the Jack Pine Warbler (this is put out by
Michigan Audubon) there is a good article on the birds of the
Keweenaw (defined as including Baraga, Houghton and mainland
Keweenaw counties).

It seems like there is a new edition of the book, Birds Of The
Keweenaw, which came out in 2004. The book (or maybe it is
only a list since it sells for only $3.00) is by Dr. Lawrence Binford
of Agate Harbor. The publication lists all 321 species ever
reported from the Keweenaw. Here is what the Jack Pine
Warbler says about this publication: "Birders in the Keweenaw
are tremendously fortunate to have such a complete list of birds
of the area. As far as is known, ... no other area in the state has
such a complete and comprehensive guide to its bird life."

If the powers-that-be who govern this site allow it, I will give
the mailing address of Copper Country Audubon which will
allow you to buy a copy of this list. The address is P.O. Box 124,
Houghton, MI 49931.

Pöllö mikä pöllö!
Vanha ja viisaan
näköinen..nokkaan
on tullut nirhamia!
Katse on terävä ja
asento vakaa - elämässä
vielä kovasti kiinni.. .

Michigan Tech web-kamera.; quite incredible beautiful weather You there!!! I am very envious!

Z-Man was gracious enough to share another shot of his stinky capture! :->

Mr Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?

Bob:
What a nice bird story. I looked at the pictures and boy, that poor bird was soaked. He must have realized those 2 nice fellows in the boat would not harm him so he hitched a ride. Good for you two for helping him out.

Great photo! Thanks! It's very impressive on my desktop.

Killer Pics!

Z-Man,

Awesome pics of the owl...you definately have to have a special talent to be able to get pics of wild life.

That is something that I miss about Michigan...the owls. For a few years, there was an owl that I could hear each evening, and I would sit outside on the back deck and just listen to it hoot.

One of my criminology professors loved birds too, so we talked quite a bit about the owl...and one time I mentioned that although the owl was constantly calling out, you never heard another owl answer back. The professor did some research on owls and later told me that owls do not mate until they are two years old...no wonder his mating call went unanswered for so long...there were no eligible females. :)

Bob,

Loved your bird story. From the looks of your pics, the poor fella was really soaked...and definately very fortunate that you happened upon him, eh.

Bob! What a cool story! So glad you and your buddy could save this beautiful creature!

This is a long eared owl . Saw one earlier this year just after it smartly severed a head of a rabbit , cried like a baby when it thought I was going to take it's dinner. Spring is here rejoice!

No takers out there !

Paul, This is a great horned owl. A long eared owl is about the size of a crow. This owl is big and I mean real big. hoo, hoo-oo, hoo, hoo

COUPLE NITES AGO I HEARD A CROW STORY-HARD TO BELIEVE. THIS LADY RESCUES A CROW STUCK IN A FENCE WITH SOME DIFFICULTY DUE TO THE CROW PECKING HER HANDS. FINALLY GETS CROW LOOSE.SOON AFTER THAT HER SMALL SON WAS RUNNING TOWARDS HER ANXIOUSLY, INTO A PATH OF A VEHICLE WHEN A CROW SWOOPS DOWN, PECKS THE BOY ON THE HEAD, STOPPING HIM FROM GETTING HIT BY THE VEHICLE. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD CHILDRENS STORY TO PROMOTE KINDNESS TO ANIMALS & PEOPLE. PERSONALLY I BELIEVE IT.

Z-MAN!
I am totally envious of your great fortune to get the most fantastic shot of an owl I have ever seen!!! Then I saw the next!! Lucky you

crows carry the west nile virus

I was told that owls have no sense of smell, so a skunk is just as tasty as a rabbit.

Very nice shot of an owl, Z-Man. Your pictures are awesome. Keep on taking close ups of nature shots.

Z-man, SUPER shots! To look into an owl's eyes is an awesome experience, as the top photo invites us to do. Thank you.

A couple of years ago I was skiing at Swedetown, it was almost dark and I was going up Owl Hill (very appropriately named). I thought that a branch had hit my head so I ducked - what really happend was an owl was attacking me! (I had a witness too!) I really didn't think that much of it until I got back to my car when my head started to hurt. There were a couple of spots where the talons had broken the skin on my head through my hat (which I'm glad he didn't take from me!) I probably should have gotten a tetanus shot but you know how that goes. I can still feel where he got me! It was pretty scary and to this day when I ski that hill I'm always looking up!