The Northern Hawk Owl that I happened upon today provided some interesting moments. Most notably was the way in which it interacted with the local gray jay family. By interaction, I actually mean complete lack of tolerance. The owl was working a recently logged area in the middle of a bog. Every and anytime the jays were within earshot, the hawk owl was after them. At one point, I had lost view of the owl and was trying to pish the jays in and one responded, coming in quite close to investigate. The jay was sizing me up, when suddenly it gave a sharp AAAPP!! (That's what it sounded like), and took off just in time for me to hear a swooosh coming over my head. The hawk owl was in hot pursuit and appeared falcon like in it's banking and maneuverability. The owl was relentless in driving the jays away. I considered this for a while as I watched and marveled. Was the owl trying to catch and eat the jay? Perhaps. Are there records of hawk owls catching and eating gray jays? Would love to hear if anyone knows. But then I observed something that I really found interesting. The owl, in between bouts of jay chasing, removed a cached vole from a tree and flew to another tree and re-cached the vole under some peeled bark and lichen in the fork of the tree some twenty feet off the ground. I wonder if the jays, clever as they are, have been watching where this owl has been caching voles, and might not be stealing from the owl when the opportunity presents itself? Like squirrels who watch where other squirrels cache their nuts. Would jays eat a vole? Interesting to say the least. Towards the end of my observing the owl, it caught another vole and cached it eight feet off the ground, on the SIDE of a tree, in a crevice created by peeling bark. The owl had to hang on to the side of the tree like a woodpecker while it worked the vole into the crack, only thing showing when it was done was the tail and hind feet of the vole. During my watching the owl, it cached three voles in three different trees including the re-cached vole. And there are a lot of voles in this area. I counted five that skirted my footsteps during the day. While in this area (Hedbom Bog) on the St. Louis County side, I also observed two male black backed woodpeckers, common redpolls (a few), red crossbills (a few), american gold finches, and one pine grosbeak. When the finches (or the ravens) saw the hawk owl, they would circle around it and chatter in their own ways. All in all, a very enjoyable way to spend a very seasonable November Day. Good Birding to you. And, if interested, I'll post a picture of today's owl in the showcase section of MOU. Regards, Shawn Zierman.
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