Rough-legged hawks harassing Great Horned owls

Last week while checking out some Great Horned owls, I located the male and finally located the female on a nest.  Yes, they start nesting in February here in Idaho.  Here is the male.

The nest is very high in a tree, and I could not get a good picture of it.  Soon two Rough-legged hawks started circling the owls.  Here is a light morphed Rough-legged.

And here is the dark morphed Rough-legged hawk.  They appeared to be a pair, but not sure.  They perched is the dead trees around the owl nest and the male owl kept a good eye on them.

Just some more wildness in Idaho.  Have a great week.

Desert sunset - SkyWatch Friday

Tuesday evening as I was coming back from observing the Long-eared owls, the thin clouds created a beautiful sunset across the Big Desert west of Rexburg.  It was beautiful in my rear view mirror.

Earlier in the late afternoon, I caught this Long-eared owl coming into a tree to roost.

And then just as I was leaving the 11 Long-eared, I found this one hiding next to a tree trunk.

A great day to spend the evening celebrating another wild day in Idaho.

View other great SkyWatch Friday pictures at http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Long-eared owls

A week ago today I wanted to finish my Great Backyard Bird Count by finding some owls.  I found the Great Horned owls and then snowshoed another area just looking for something different.  As I walked into a grove of trees I noticed two eyes looking at me.

I did not recognized the owl and it got too dark for me to get a good look even though I flushed nine different owls.  Tuesday night and Friday evening I finally got some pictures and identified them as the Long-eared owls.  This was the first time that I was able to recognize them even though I have probably seen them before.  Here are two pictures of them flying around me.

After I counted 11 Long-eared owls and was leaving the grove of trees, I finally got a picture of one that clearly shows the long ears of this beautiful species.

A great way to close out another wild day in Idaho.

SkyWatch Friday - Rising sun-spike

With the cold mornings hovering around zero, the air is filled with ice crystals creating beautiful sun spikes.  These only last for about three or four minutes before they are gone.  The best ones are just as the sun breaks over the eastern Teton Mountains east of Rexburg.  Timing is critical to catch them at their peak.

Just the beginning of another wild day in Idaho.

Visit more shots of beautiful skies at SkyWatch Friday.