One of my favourite owls to find and photograph, is the northern pygmy owl. This is an owl of forests and mountains, most often seen in reforested areas of tree harvesting, adjacent to tall timber. Although it appears “cute”, it is a fierce predator and will take on birds and small rodents that can be well more than its own weight. Finding them can be like the search for the elusive needle in a haystack, but they remain more or less in the same area, year round. They typically are first spotted as a “baseball on a branch”, perched high on a small sapling or on a tree branch, from which they can look and listen for prey. They hunt in the day time and are not easily disturbed by people, as long as people don’t try to get too close. Indeed, once they perceive a low level of threat, they will fly and perch close to people, if the perch is “right”.
