Too early to say, I know, but...

Today I saw my first Northern Hawk Owl since the irruption of 04/05. Driving north of Edmonton in the same general area where we saw so many seven years ago. (We've had a cabin in that area for the last four or five years.) Saw one or two Great Greys as well, within a quarter mile of cabin. (I think that's a resident pair, though, so that doesn't point to an irruption.)

Anyone else heard anything about the Northern Hawk Owls?

-Paul

From here in Ontario and Quebec it does NOT look like an irruption year for Hawk Owls. In an irruption year we would be hearing about Hawk Owl sightings in good numbers by now. Only 2 reports so far and I went to check up on one of them today. Didn't find it and no birders around (usually not a good sign) so it likely was moving through. We usually get at least one Hawk Owl a winter.

I saw two different birds back in early November near Vanderhoof. Also, I know of at least another 5 or so sightings through the local bird network. Haven't heard anything for a couple of weeks now. I think we're more a migration zone than a hangout for the winter - so I'm might hazard a guess that most individuals seen in this area a month ago have moved further south by now.

Follow up to my post this morning:

Went out today because I had the day off - spotted two NHOs, two snowy owls, and one short eared owl. I've never seen four different NHOs within a month up here, so I'm going to say we have a bit of an irruption happening in the Central Interior of BC!

The last time I've seen a snowy up here was about five years ago, so seeing two today is going to qualify for an irruption also I think!

Pretty awesome day for birding - not so much for photography because they weren't overly cooperative, but very cool none-the-less.

Hi Paul,

Haven't posted here in ages, but I still lurk around...

It'll be hard to match the year you mentioned, we had an incredible 40 Hawk Owls in the Opal Christmas Count circle (15 mile diameter). Never been skunked, but most years since there's only been 1 or 2.

There have been a number of scattered sightings this fall in the Edmonton area: Sandy Lake, Genesee, Stony Plain, Cooking Lake, Darwell, plus at least 3 in the Opal area. So... better than the last few years, maybe a mini-irruption?

Nothing to report from Minnesota yet.

Hawk owls are starting to be reported. I think we should be seeing a couple this winter but it is not an irruption year based on what I am seeing so far. We get a couple moving down here almost every winter so nothing special to hear about a few sightings. I may even be tempted to go photograph one this weekend.

Went for an owl search today, and while I didn't see the 3 NHOs that were reported by the local birding alert, I did spot 5 different NHOs west of PG. So we're definitely in some sort of NHO irruption year here in the BC central interior.

These owls are becoming a much more common site here in the winter months. Every year these owls can be seen including this year. While not an irruption year, a number have been reported...mostly in Quebec (Sherbrooke, Beauport near Quebec city and places further north including one north of Ottawa) but a few in Ontario as well. Year after year I see these Hawk Owls but never get tired of them and this winter is not any different.

Last winter we did have an irruption of these owls and I counted 15+ reports in Ontario and Quebec. Of course, a lot more than that go unreported.