{"id":40518,"date":"2016-07-14T03:50:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T09:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40518"},"modified":"2025-07-22T09:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:03:00","slug":"jackpot-lifer-northern-pygmy-owl-with-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/14\/jackpot-lifer-northern-pygmy-owl-with-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackpot! Lifer Northern Pygmy-Owl with Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NorthernNorthern Pygmy-Owl with prey – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I went looking for a mammal species yesterday and dipped on them but hit the jackpot by getting a lifer bird, a Northern Pygmy-Owl and it had prey!<\/p>\n

I didn’t need to use a call (I never do), I didn’t need to bait (I don’t) and I also didn’t need to use flash because the tiny owl was out hunting during the day and then it flew into a tree not very far from the road. I have dreamed about seeing these small owls and getting images of them for quite some time.<\/p>\n

Now I know this isn’t the best image, there is a shadow on the owls face, the branch it is perched on sticks out in front of the owl’s chest and the tip of it is badly out of focus. The bright sky in the background is slightly distracting, well, maybe the entire background is…<\/p>\n

But I got a lifer Northern Pygmy-Owl and I couldn’t be happier!<\/p>\n

Northern Pygmy-Owls are tiny at only 7 to 7.5 inches in length and a mere 2.2 ounces but they are ferocious hunters who hunt during the day and can take prey up to three time their size, even something as large as a chicken! Northern Pygmy-Owls can be found in montane forests in their range and that is exactly where this one was found!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> freaking good!<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

I need to work on finding a few more of the tiny woodland owls. Soon!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I went looking for a mammal species yesterday and dipped on them but hit the jackpot by getting a lifer bird, a Northern Pygmy-Owl and it had prey!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1513,5287,12,5286],"tags":[2663,6577,5370,5289,531,14742,5288,3967,294,2415,4104,4106,8973,4076],"class_list":["post-40518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-centennial-mountains","category-montana","category-northern-pygmy-owls","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-branches","tag-forest","tag-glaucidium-gnoma","tag-lifer","tag-montane-forest","tag-northern-pygmy-owl","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-montana","tag-perched","tag-prey","tag-rodent","tag-trees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t