Superb Owl Sunday 2021

Indeed it has been a Superb Owl Sunday. The Force remains strong with me this season. My good fortune with owls continues.

Our brisk, single-digit hike today yielded one forest sprite that measured about the size of my hand.

I had forgotten just how small this owl species is. 

After a decade plus of ducking in and under evergreens in search of roosting saw-whets, I finally found one!

Though initially big-eyed when I found the owl within feet of melting off my face, this bird was in no mood to flee. It quickly returned to snoozing after apparently realizing I posed no threat. 

The last time I found a roosting northern saw-whet owl was in the ancient year of 2000. We had been paddling the Two Hearted River in Luce County, Michigan when we spotted a juvenile owl snoozing in a tree on the beach where we stopped for lunch. This was during a time before cell phone cameras were common place and before I was bogged down with camera gear. Hence the only picture from that time lives vividly in the cobwebs of my mind's eye.

Superb Owl Sunday 2021. What an incredible gift. So close. So small. So precious. So not eBirded...

~BB