Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus acadicus) - 20240927-05e
Please, no invitations to award groups or to those with large/animated comment codes.
Pint-sized owl of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; found in northern forests and western mountains. Prefers areas with conifers and thick understory. Fairly common, but shy and difficult to see. Patterned with brown and white overall, with streaked white forehead and blotchy rusty-brown streaks below. No ear tufts. Migratory, but numbers of migrants fluctuate greatly from year to year. Named for its loud, repetitive whistles that sound like a saw being whetted (sharpened). Also gives a harsher, rising screech. Most similar to less common Boreal Owl. Saw-whet is smaller with streaks (not spots) on forehead and richer orange-brown streaks on underparts. (eBird)
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Different owl, same tree. This is the little Saw-whet Owl that I released onto the tree. So tiny and soft, it weighed almost nothing. After all the tagging, weighing and measuring, it just sat there, a little bemused, wondering what came next. Eventually it wandered away into the tree and disappeared.
Hilliardton Marsh Research and Education Centre, Temiskaming, Ontario, Canada. September 2024.
Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus acadicus) - 20240927-05e
Please, no invitations to award groups or to those with large/animated comment codes.
Pint-sized owl of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; found in northern forests and western mountains. Prefers areas with conifers and thick understory. Fairly common, but shy and difficult to see. Patterned with brown and white overall, with streaked white forehead and blotchy rusty-brown streaks below. No ear tufts. Migratory, but numbers of migrants fluctuate greatly from year to year. Named for its loud, repetitive whistles that sound like a saw being whetted (sharpened). Also gives a harsher, rising screech. Most similar to less common Boreal Owl. Saw-whet is smaller with streaks (not spots) on forehead and richer orange-brown streaks on underparts. (eBird)
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Different owl, same tree. This is the little Saw-whet Owl that I released onto the tree. So tiny and soft, it weighed almost nothing. After all the tagging, weighing and measuring, it just sat there, a little bemused, wondering what came next. Eventually it wandered away into the tree and disappeared.
Hilliardton Marsh Research and Education Centre, Temiskaming, Ontario, Canada. September 2024.