When I lived in the flats of Northern Montana, at about ten miles from the Canadian border, during the coldest winters I often saw these magnificent birds as they perched on a higher heap of snow or a fencepost, or flying around. I saw one trying to catch Hungarian partridges, and another attacking a jackrabbit bigger than the owl itself, but the jack was able to get away. I am sure that the abundant populations of partridge, grouse, ringneck pheasants, jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits, and ducks and geese in tracts of rivers free of ice, provided a more varied diet than just lemmings...
In the area where I lived I also observed great horned owls and an occasional golden eagle in the Milk River breaks. I don't think birds of prey could go hungry in that area!
When I lived in the flats of Northern Montana, at about ten miles from the Canadian border, during the coldest winters I often saw these magnificent birds as they perched on a higher heap of snow or a fencepost, or flying around. I saw one trying to catch Hungarian partridges, and another attacking a jackrabbit bigger than the owl itself, but the jack was able to get away. I am sure that the abundant populations of partridge, grouse, ringneck pheasants, jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits, and ducks and geese in tracts of rivers free of ice, provided a more varied diet than just lemmings...
In the area where I lived I also observed great horned owls and an occasional golden eagle in the Milk River breaks. I don't think birds of prey could go hungry in that area!