A Northern Hawk Owl, normally found in the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada, made its way to Bristol and attracted quite a crowd of people from Maine and beyond this week.
New Harbor native Richard Cummings said he spotted the hawk owl last week in a tree just past Bristol Consolidated School. The crowd gathered to watch the owl was the first thing to attract his attention, he said.
Cummings is an amateur bird watcher with feeders set up in his back yard. “I feed the birds, even the seagulls and crows,” he said. “I keep chickens and pygmy goats. I like animals.”
On Jan. 18 the owl was perched on top of the church, according to Cummings. People have continued to visit the area to catch a glimpse of the bird.
When Cummings researched the Northern Hawk Owl in the Audubon Society’s bird book, he found the bird’s normal habitat is Alaska, Labrador, Newfoundland, and British Columbia. Normally they are not seen this far south, he said.
When he called the Audubon Society they told Cummings a Northern Hawk Owl had only been seen once in Maine in the past 10 years.
Mark Hoffman, an amateur bird watcher from Newcastle, was one of several photographers lucky enough to snap some photographs of the owl. Hoffman said he first saw the owl sitting in a dead spruce tree just past the school.
Hoffman has been bird watching since 1972. A New Jersey native, he first visited Maine in 1980, trying to catch a glimpse of Great Grey Owls in Ellsworth, he said. He first made the trip here with a birding group from North Plainfield, NJ.
Hoffman also has a back yard full of birdfeeders, going through nearly a hundred pounds of birdseed per week. Bird watching is a hobby he can fit in amongst other activities, he said, stopping for a few minutes on the side of the road to spot special birds.
“I just spent the last hour in Damariscotta Mills looking at ducks,” Hoffman said. “I had a red bellied woodpecker on my suet feeder last week. There have been more and more sightings in the past few years.”
According to Hoffman, Northern Hawk Owls are very tame. They are one of the few diurnal owls, which hunt during the day. Hoffman suspects that global warming is causing more birds to spend the winter in Maine.
The Northern Hawk Owl is not a rare owl, but is not often seen in this area. Hoffman has lived in Maine since Sept. of 1985, he said. He hadn’t seen a Northern Hawk Owl until Feb. 2001, on the edge of a field in Sidney. He has only seen two hawk owls in all the years he lived here.
He has been watching this owl throughout the past week. Hoffman said there were seven or eight vehicles parked on the shoulder admiring the bird when he was there. Most were avid birders from Maine, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
“This owl flies like a hawk,” Hoffman said. “I assume the bird was named for that reason. It is about the size of a crow, maybe little smaller. This is a beautiful owl.”
Birders often compile a list of species they’ve seen in their lifetime of bird watching. This Northern Hawk Owl would make most people’s lifetime list, according to Hoffman
“Owls are my favorite birds,” he said. “I think they’re neat, but you don’t see them very often. Some owls are fairly common, but most are difficult to find. With nocturnal owls you often have to find exactly where they are roosting to catch a glimpse.”
According to the Cornell University Guide to Birds website (www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Hawk_Owl_dtl.html), the Northern Hawk Owl is a medium sized owl, which often perches in an inclined posture as opposed to fully upright, like most owls.
These owls normally inhabit Alaska and Northern Canada, but will fly southward if food gets too scarce, the website said. Northern Hawk Owls feed primarily on small rodents such as voles.