Afternoon nap

I'm still on a natural high from when birding friends, John and Lorrie, invited me to go with them east of Calgary to search for Snowy Owls yesterday! It is always such a treat for me when this happens and so much appreciated : ) We saw three owls, all distant. To say that they are very difficult to spot is an understatement! One was sitting on top of what a looked rather like some kind of antenna in a field - made a change from a power pole, anyway, AND there was blue sky, ha. Another was so far away, sitting on a mound in a huge field, too far for photos, and the owl in my photo was way across a field, sleeping. Two of us managed to get closer, but didn't want to disturb this napping female - hard to tell, but I suspect those eyes weren't quite as tightly closed as they look. So, this is a fully zoomed and heavily cropped image. Actually, I rather like to see her at this distance, sitting on a fence (yay!), and all fluffed out because there was a bitterly cold wind which left ungloved fingers very painful. I think I'm building up confidence to try a similar drive myself - a much longer drive than I usually do (and have ever done) and of course I've never driven any of those roads myself before. Unfortunately, Google Maps Street View doesn't cover any of these backroads. If I suddenly stop posting images on Flickr, you'll know that I'm somewhere "out there", completely lost, lol! Or worse ....

"The Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great White Owl or Harfang. Until recently, it was regarded as the sole member of a distinct genus, as Nyctea scandiaca, but mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data (Olsen et al. 2002) shows that it is very closely related to the horned owls in the genus Bubo. The Snowy Owl is the official bird of Quebec.

It is one of the largest species of owl and in North America is on average the heaviest owl species. The adult male is virtually pure white, but females and young birds have some dark scalloping; the young are heavily barred, and dark spotting may even predominate. Its thick plumage, heavily feathered taloned feet, and coloration render the Snowy Owl well-adapted for life north of the Arctic Circle. The Snowy Owl has ear-tufts; they are small and usually tucked away however."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_Owl