Sentinel by Liron Gertsman

This image was taken in Thompson-Nicola, British Columbia, Canada, 2023. 

A personal note from the photographer: An elusive and stunning bird, the Northern Hawk Owl is found across the boreal forest of my home country of Canada. In early 2023, I dedicated some time searching for these beautiful birds, and managed to locate 9 different individuals on their winter territories. Of all the hawk owls that I met, this bird and its mate were my favourites, but also the most physically challenging to photograph. The pair would roam throughout a territory of around 10 square kilometers, meaning I had to put in a lot of distance hiking in the freezing temperatures to find them. Despite wearing large snowshoes, I would regularly sink to my knees in the deep, powdery snow that blanketed the landscape. However, after putting on tens of miles on snowshoes, my efforts were rewarded with several unforgettable encounters with the pair of owls. As they hunted and engaged in courtship throughout a large territory, I observed from a respectful distance in order to capture their natural behaviors. One morning, frost blanketing the trees made for a particularly stunning environment, and I captured this image as one of the owls perched at the tip of a tree.⁠

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