Gotta love those owls

Just an old photo that I had put in a folder to maybe upload to Flickr. I haven't been getting much time to go through old files to find something that is NOT blue and white, but I found this one last night. This photo of a little Northern Hawk Owlet, seen NW of Calgary, was taken on 31 May 2012. Not the greatest light, but I think I managed to rescue the shot sufficiently. We learned a lot from this beautiful little owl family and they gave us so much pleasure. No sign of them since then, which was so disappointing, but it did save me some long drives out of the city.

This morning, I decided to go on a walk at Griffith Woods, as I knew there would be a group of birding friends there. Despite all the great pairs of eyes, there was no sign of the Great Gray Owl - I believe this is the fifth day in a row that it has not been seen by anyone. Makes me feel so lucky that I saw it on 10 January. One of the days, a friend with brilliant birding skills walked the area from very, very early morning (like 4:30 a.m.) till early evening and he was unable to find any sign of (owl) life. I've done more walking this past week than perhaps I've done during a single week in the last year. I have found it very difficult to get motivated and go for walks for at least a year, possibly two. Not good, as my back is more painful than ever. The possibility of seeing this owl (again) has pushed me out the door this week, which has been good, but I don't think I will be going back to look in this area again.

www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/12012173705