This is a bird note.

It's a summer morning, a day when the sun's light will linger for 18 hours or more over the northern spruce woods of Canada.

A bird of prey perches upright in a small spruce tree. It's dark brown back to us.

scanning the landscape for prey, the raptor suddenly lifts off and sprints through the air, low to the ground, on rapid thrusts of pointed wings.

It has the speed of a falcon and a long tail like a forest hunting

hawk. Grasping the prey in its talons, the bird finally turns toward us. It has the face of an

owl, broad, pale and framed by a bold black border with blazing yellow eyes that face forward.

It's a northern hawk owl.

Although it truly is an owl, it has several similarities to Hawks and Falcons, a streamlined

body shape, daytime hunting habits, and stiff wing feathers for the powered flight of daytime

hunting.

Owls that hunt at night have soft edges on their wing feathers so they can hunt without

making a sound.

No fossil relatives of the Northern Hawk Owl have yet been found and it is the only living

member of its genus.

It is unique in the world widely dispersed in remote places one of the least studied

least known of all birds on the continent which only adds to its allure.

For Birdnose. adds to its allure.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann. You're going to be.