Continuing the hunt

Awful quality, but couldn't bring myself to delete it : ) This Snowy Owl, seen way off down the road, decided to take off just when I clicked. I like my owls to be sitting still - I know most people want in-flight shots of birds, especially owls. Taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm, and then cropped. I love those mighty wings.

Yesterday, 14 January 2017, I drove to Fish Creek Park to meet with others to go east of the city, looking for birds. Everywhere looked so pretty down by the river when I arrived, with everything covered in frost and a thick layer of mist rising from the water.

I think there were about 8 cars in convoy, as we headed eastward, out of the city. For much of the day, birding was extremely slow, especially as we were not seeing any owls : ) As the day wore on, several cars returned to the city.

The first owl to be seen was a Great Horned Owl, perched in a row of trees alongside the road. It was so well hidden by a tangle of thin twigs and branches, making it impossible to photograph, but still a treat to see.

Eventually, we saw our first Snowy Owl at 2:30 pm, perched on a very distant fence post. A second Snowy was seen 15 to 20 minutes later, again very, very distant. Then, shortly before the trip ended, the friends in the car in which I was travelling, decided to go back to a certain area to see if we could see any Short-eared Owls. On the way there, we spotted another Snowy Owl (seen in this photo), on a power pole way, way down the road. Managed to get a quick couple of very distant shots before it flew off to hunt. I had found no Snowy Owls or Short-eared Owls the previous afternoon, when I had gone there on my own. This time, we spotted two Short-eared Owls, perched far, far away along a fence line. Useless for photos, though.

Thanks so much for driving the whole day, Carolyn - greatly appreciated by all of us! So glad you wanted to stay a bit longer than the actual trip, as we had a few lucky sightings, even if they were all very distant. A beautiful, sunny day to be out, too, and thankfully the deep-freeze had just ended.

Thanks so much, Terry, for organizing this trip! It always makes for a very enjoyable day out. Nice to see a few other birds, too, including Horned Larks and Snow Buntings.