Northern Hawk Owl

Northern Hawk Owl

The Northern Hawk Owl is an uncommon but regular visitor to Eastern Ontario in the winter time, generally flying south from its breeding territory in the Boreal Forest in unpredictable irruptions every three to five years. This medium-sized owl feeds chiefly on rodents, Snowshoe Hares, and other small mammals in the summer; in the winter, it will often add birds such as grouse and ptarmigan. Its diurnal nature, flight style, long tail, and strategy of hunting by watching for prey from conspicuous perches more resemble a hawk than an owl, giving rise to its common name.

When the vole population crashes on their breeding grounds every few years, large numbers of Northern Hawk Owls often move south a short distance to find better feeding grounds in the winter. Such irruptions occur regularly, but as vole cycles may be different in different geographic locations, and as the owl’s North American population is affected by the Snowshoe Hare population cycle as well, these temporary southerward movements are not predictable. In irruption years, the earliest Northern Hawk Owls usually start to be seen south of their normal breeding grounds in mid-October, with more arriving on their winter territories by late November. Winter habitats include farmland, prairie, old burn sites, and riparian forest with sufficient trees or posts to provide perches for hunting.

New Year’s Hawks

Cooper’s Hawk

The year 2020 has arrived, and it’s a new decade as well as a new year. Usually it’s only the excitement of starting a brand new list from scratch that gets me going out in January, so on the first day of 2020 I got out early to see how many bird species I could find. As usual, I planned to check a couple of different habitats to maximize the number of potential species; my strategy consists of birding in open farmland, forests, along open water, with a stop at the local landfill. In the past couple of years I’ve only averaged about 17 or 18 species, which is not a particularly high number. My best New Year’s Day was back in 2017 where I counted 26 species – that year I visited Shirley’s Bay, Mud Lake, Jack Pine Trail, the Trail Road landfill, and the Eagleson ponds. The best birds of that day included Bald Eagle and White-throated Sparrow at Mud Lake, Horned Lark on Rushmore, and Gray Partridge on Eagleson. I also tallied 26 species back in 2012, where an unexpected Northern Flicker at Mud Lake, a Red-winged Blackbird at the Hilda Road feeders, and Glaucous and Great Black-backed Gulls at the landfill were the best birds of the day.