One very cute, very small, very fast Owl

Check out this little dude! Arktos is an Eastern Screech Owl, a fairly common but rarely seen type of owl. I personally have never seen one before the day of this photo shoot and now I know why – they are tiny! Making finding them even more difficult is the fact that they typically nest in tree cavities and as you can tell by its coloring, it would blend in quite well with one.

Arktos is a captive bird, owned by Nature’s Educators, a non-profit wildlife education group. His parents were unable to care for him and his brother and as a result, the owlets became human imprinted when hand-raised and could not be released into the wild.

I was absolutely amazed at how fast this little guy could fly. It made getting an in-flight capture very, very challenging to say the least.