Graceful owl caught on Montreal traffic cam

  • 08/01/2016
(Robert Poeti)
(Robert Poeti)

A traffic camera in Canada has managed to capture a beautiful combination of climate and nature - snow and a snowy owl.

CCTV footage from Transport Quebec captured the black and white spotted bird in graceful flight above a motorway in Montreal, The Telegraph reports.

 

Quebec Transport Minister Robert Poeti posted the pictures on Facebook with the caption [translated]: "An impressive solo was captured in full flight on the morning of 3 January, by the surveillance cameras of the road network on highway 40, at the height of the boulevard des sources in the west of the island of Montreal".

Director of the McGill Bird Observatory Barbara Frei, which monitors Canadian wildlife for research, told CBC News the owl was looking for a convenient place to perch.

"I think they are attracted specifically to the highway because it has open, grassy fields nearby which is perfect for hunting their favourite prey, which is small rodents," she said.

 

"They like to get a good lay of the land and the high lamp posts or other posts that they can perch on while hunting just suits them perfectly."

Snowy owls are native to Arctic regions in North America and Eurasia.

Younger snowy owls start with darker plumage, which turns lighter as they get older.

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