The images – showing the owl staring directly at the camera’s lens – were posted on social media by Quebec transport minister Robert Poëti.
On Facebook, Poëti wrote, in French: ‘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. Here’s a couple of shots of this beautiful snowy owl!’
At the time of writing, Poëti’s Facebook post had been shared nearly 16,000 times – garnering almost 13,000 likes and more than 950 comments.
And a separate posting on Twitter has been retweeted over 1,500 times.