Roger,

I've been up to photograph them (I live in the Twin Cities area).  A three
weeks ago I spotted 38 in just 4-1/2 hours of driving backcountry roads
north and west of Duluth in the Sax-Zim area (two small towns).

Many were right next to the road and pretty much ignored us.  Since these
birds typically hunt in boreal forest openings they are right at home along
the edges of wooded lanes.  Since broken off stubs and snags are preferred
perching places, we found owls on telephone poles, fence posts and even road
signs.  We didn't stop to photo those perched on signs at the edge of the
road for the fear of spooking them; they need to be hunting right now and so
driving them from those perches makes them use up extra energy.

Take a look at these photos:

www.visi.com/~gdietzman/CanoeCountry/GGO_1.jpg
www.visi.com/~gdietzman/CanoeCountry/GGO_2.jpg
www.visi.com/~gdietzman/CanoeCountry/GGO_3.jpg
www.visi.com/~gdietzman/CanoeCountry/GGO_4.jpg

All these shots were taken with a 300mm/1.4x/digital Rebel, or some such
combination.

We also saw five northern hawk owls, one of which was perched on a telephone
cable next to the road.

This is truly a remarkable irruption.  Despite traveling, paddling, and
hiking literally thousands of miles in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota,
I've never seen anything like this.  For instance, a number of winters ago
we had another irruption and in two days of driving north of Duluth, I saw
five birds, only one of which I was able to approach (and this was on
snowshoes over four feet of snow...exhausting work...).  I thought that was
a remarkable couple of days.  This irruption is undoubtly a once in a
lifetime event.

As mentioned above, the owls pretty much ignored us.  As a result, we were
often within 50 feet of them for as long as we wanted to be.  We often could
watch one owl and spot another hunting some distance away.

If you need more information, specific location, etc. please let me know.

I'm going to try and get off work this Thursday and again on Saturday to
head back up that way.

Gordon Dietzman
gdietzman@visi.com

------------------------------------

The Great Grey Owl  is in invasion in south of Canada since december. It's
the greatest invasion since 20 years. It's due to lack of food that appears
each 4-5 years.

It is relatively active during the day, more active than other Owl. But the
best time to see it in activities is early morning and late in PM. During
the day, the Owl is in mode "digestion"............. if hunting were good.
If not, the bird will continue to hunt until it finds a prey.

Daniel

----------------------

   I don't know enough to know if they are from Canada or even if it is
unusual, but I have seen more owls in central Ohio this year than I have
ever seen before.

My family and I went on a day trip yesterday to the Sax-Zim Bog in
search of these owls.  We had imho great success in seeing 11 Northern
Hawk Owls and 5 Great Gray Owls.... not nearly as many as have been
reported by others in previous weeks, but due to the elusive nature of
these owls, still an amazing day of photography.

There was article in today's (Sundays) St. Paul Pioneer Press
reporting the ornithologists union's Jan. 17 statewide census tallied
1715 Great Grays, 300 Northern Hawk Owls and 400 Boreal Owls.  To give
you an Idea of the rare nature of this irruption, in a normal winter
survey, the numbers would be 35 Great Grays, six Northern Hawks and a
single Boreal Owl.

Conditions for photographing these birds are excellent, although a bit
crowded at times.  The Great Grays are typically perched on low
branches and are easily approached as they rarely encounter humans in
their natural habitat.  I found many photographers staked out near
birds waiting for that perfect shot...not hard to do with sunny sky's
and temperatures in the 50's yesterday!  The Northern Hawk Owls are a
little harder as they are typically perched at the very top of the
tallest trees.  I was not quite able to reach them with my 300/2.8
with 2x tele, with some longer glass you might get some good shots.

The Sax-Zim bog area (where I went) seems to still be a decent spot to
go, but the birds have spread out more in recent days.  We also
managed to spot Black-Backed Woodpeckers, Northern Shrikes, Gray Jays
and a Bald Eagle.

Take care,
Scotty

Were these Snowy Owls? We have had some in the Pacific Northwest.
Great big  white owls. I used a 200mm lens with 2xTC and got a little
blob of white on a dark marsh. We have been told that this occurs
every 6-7 years when food in the Arctic is scarce.

Don