Northern Saw Whet Owl


I figure I might as well make this owl week. This is the third species that I saw last weekend in British Columbia. The saw whet owl is one of the smallest owls in North America. They weigh only about 2.8 ounces and are just 7 inches tall. When perched and sleeping in a tree, their round appearance is about the size of a softball. They are strictly nocturnal and sleep throughout the day, hidden deep within the foliage of trees. I kept going back to visit this one, hoping that it would wake up for just a second. It finally rewarded me with a single eye glance.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/60th of a second.

FacebookPinterestTwitterGoogle+EmailDiggRedditStumbleUponBlogger PostTumblrShare
This entry was posted in North America. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

15 Comments

  1. Posted January 24, 2013 at 12:43 am by Phyllis Fitzsimons | Permalink

    Rather looks like a wink! Waaay precious.

  2. Posted January 24, 2013 at 2:24 am by Anna Olson | Permalink

    Hi!
    Cute owl! Real good photo!
    I having a blog with photos too on the adress above. Lovely photos that you have!

    Best regards Anna

    • Posted January 24, 2013 at 11:09 am by Sean Crane | Permalink

      Thanks Anna, I like that first picture in your gallery section of the mink. I’ve yet to get a picture of one of those. Nice monkeys too.

      • Posted January 25, 2013 at 3:43 am by Anna Olson | Permalink

        Thanks for looking! I am happy you liked them!

        Best regards Anna

  3. Posted January 24, 2013 at 6:49 am by Mom | Permalink

    So it’s more the size of a robin or other common bird we see all the time. But what a cutie.

  4. Posted January 24, 2013 at 7:08 am by Rachel | Permalink

    Saw whets do have the cute factor going for them. Got to hold one at a bird of prey presentation. And I have a shot of 2 of them taken at VINS [Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee] at the above link. There also was one sleeping on Hellcat trail at Parker River last fall. I love the soft pine needles framing your shot. And the look it gave you is priceless, kinda like, I’m sleeping but I know you’re here.

    • Posted January 24, 2013 at 11:06 am by Sean Crane | Permalink

      Thanks Rachel, and nice shot of the two saw whets that you took. Your little guys were a little more awake I see.

  5. Posted January 24, 2013 at 7:31 am by Patti Whittier | Permalink

    So cute, I want to hold him.

  6. Posted January 24, 2013 at 9:20 am by Angelina Powers | Permalink

    I am in love with this little guy! BTW perfect picture for next year’s holiday cards.

  7. Posted January 24, 2013 at 9:26 am by Sally of Gloucester | Permalink

    This has been an extraordinary week in Crane- land. I’ve loved every image you’ve posted. Wow! And it’s only Thursday.

  8. Posted January 24, 2013 at 9:27 am by Jr | Permalink

    I see a Nat Geo Xmas card winner. Beyond cute.

  9. Posted January 24, 2013 at 4:39 pm by Tina Zimmer | Permalink

    Simply A M A Z I N G shot!

  10. Posted January 24, 2013 at 6:27 pm by Katie | Permalink

    That picture and edxperience is so awesome!

  11. Posted January 30, 2013 at 11:16 am by Tom | Permalink

    Lovely shot Sean. Great colors.

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>