Breath-taking beauty

This is a female Snowy Owl (adult males are pure white but females have this heavy, dark brown barring). My friend found it for us east of Calgary, in the Langdon area, yesterday afternoon, along with four Short-eared Owls a little further on. I feel rather bad, as I didn't do the greatest job of photographing this owl after all the trouble my friend went to in finding it (light was a little dim for my point-and-shoot, I suspect). They are such spectacular birds and they just take your breath away! This photo is almost identical to photos taken by other people. Almost always sitting on one of these poles! My photo when the owl was looking straight at us came out a little blurred, so I thought I'd post this less spectacular pose but at least it's a little more pleasant on the eyes! The same friend found a beautiful, pure white male Snowy Owl last winter and I posted a photo of that one a while ago.