Owls 3

Apart from the last few days, the last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous birds of prey was on 8 February 2016, just about a year ago. It was just the same thrill seeing this recent one. The first time I saw the owl in this photo was 29 January 2017, Since then, I have called in briefly three other times, once just for 10 minutes. The first day was by far the best day, as the owl perched on a few fence posts, nicely out in the open. The other times, it was mainly in one tree or another, as in this photo, or a couple of times perched on top of a utility pole next to an insulator. I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always a few who will do anything to get a closer shot. "The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl "The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_hawk_owl/lifehistory

So often when I've seen a Snowy Owl, it is a small, white speck either perched on a distant fence post or sitting on the ground in a snow-covered field. Power poles and insulators are definitely not the desired setting, but I'll take whatever I can get : ) The last two years, especially, I've probably only seen a couple of close owls - partly because I have only been out a handful of times. This male, photographed shortly before sunset, still has a few dark brown specks on his feathers, so he still has a little way to go before he is a full adult. On 25 January 2017, I had such a great day, spent with friend, Phil. We drove the main roads and zig-zagged along the back roads SE of the city, hoping to find owls and any other birds that we might be lucky enough to see. I haven't been able to get out much this winter, and have had very little luck finding certain owls, including Snowies, Short-eared Owls and a Long-eared Owl. Phil has an unusual ability to see things that are almost invisible to the naked eye; things that I know I would never spot if I was driving on my own. Amazing how some people can do this - and, of course, the rest of us always benefit from their ability. I was confident that we would see a Snowy Owl, but had no idea that we would see 11 of them by the end of the day! In the morning, there were few birds of any kind to be found, but thankfully more gradually appeared as the day wore on. Birds for the day included the 11 Snowy Owls, 3 Rough-legged Hawks (one a very dark individual), 2 Prairie Falcons, quite a few Grey Partridge, and a beautiful, distant Bald Eagle down on the ground the far side of a field. It was bathed in beautiful sunset light, which showed the detail of each and every feather. Mammals for the day included a number of Mule Deer and White-tailed Deer, some of them surrounded by hoar-frosted stubble. We also saw a very distant Red Fox hunting, 3 Elk (which surprised both of us), and several Coyotes. Thanks so much, Phil, for such a great day! A day of hoar frost and glorious cloud formation, beautiful landscape, and more than enough Snowy Owls to keep anyone happy. Perfect company, too, of course. Greatly appreciated!

globalnews.ca/video/3229197/snow-route-parking-ban-for-ca... There is a Snowfall Warning Alert in effect today, Sunday, 5 February 2017. The snow was heavy earlier today, but falling more lightly at the moment. "Issued at 10:33 Sunday 05 February 2017 A long period of snowfall, with total amounts of 15 to 25 cm continues." Isn't that what we all just longed to hear, lol?! The temperature is -17C (windchill -22C). A week ago, on 29 January 2017, I left home hoping to see one species of owl and came home having seen a different species instead! There was no sign of the first kind of owl, despite quite a few other pairs of eyes that had been searching. I don't normally drive from one location to another one that is a long way away, but I did this day, and I am so glad I did. I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always a few who will do anything to get a closer shot. When I reached my destination, I slowed down, starting to check the trees and fence line. Then I spotted a car parked further up the road and found that there were a couple of photographers who had already found the owl. In the short time I was there, this beautiful Northern Hawk Owl was busy hunting, flying from tree to tree and along the fence line. I don't remember ever seeing a Northern Hawk Owl perched on a fence post before, and I was so happy to get a nice, clear view of it. It was some distance down the road; not as close as it looks in my photo. EXIF data: Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm. I saw the owl dive into the snow twice - not sure if it caught a Meadow Vole the first time or not, as I wasn't quick enough to get a photo, but I did see it with a Meadow Vole dangling from its beak the second time. Sorry for the little rodent, but glad that the owl had a tasty snack. The last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous birds of prey was on 8 February 2016, just about a year ago. It was just the same thrill seeing this most recent one! "The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl "The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_hawk_owl/lifehistory

Our bitterly cold weather continues. Yesterday, 6 February 2017, the forecast for this morning was -28C (windchill -35C!). Forecast for tomorrow morning is -27C (windchill -36C). After that, things are supposed to warm up, thank goodness. I haven't been out anywhere the last few days - too much new snow and such cold, cold weather. Almost unheard of, birding walks for yesterday and today were cancelled. Normally, many people will go, no matter how bad the weather. I tend to be a fair-weather photographer : ) I was rather hesitant to post this image, in case anyone thought I must have approached the owl to get the closest shot I could. This photo was taken when the owl flew down to the field across the road from where we were standing, caught a little Meadow Vole, and then flew up into the nearest tree. EXIF data gives Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm. You can tell by the colour of the sky that the weather was not ideal for taking photos. Apart from the few fairly recent days, the last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous birds of prey was NW of the city, on 8 February 2016, one year ago. It was just the same thrill seeing this recent one. The first time I saw the owl in this photo was 29 January 2017. Since then, I have called in briefly three other times, once just for 10 minutes. The first day was by far the best day, as the owl perched on a few fence posts, nicely out in the open. The other times, it was mainly in one tree or another, or a couple of times perched on top of a utility pole next to an insulator. I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have apparently been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always a few who will do anything to get a closer shot. "The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl "The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_hawk_owl/lifehistory

On 29 January 2017, I left home hoping to see one species of owl and came home having seen a different species instead! There was no sign of the first kind of owl, despite quite a few other pairs of eyes that had been searching. I don't normally drive from one location to another one that is a long way away, but I did this day, and I am so glad I did. I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always those who will do anything to get a closer shot. When I reached my second destination, I slowed down, starting to check the trees and fence line. Then I spotted a car parked further up the road and found that there were a couple of photographers who had already found the owl. In the short time I was there, this beautiful Northern Hawk Owl was busy hunting, flying from tree to tree and along the fence line. I saw the owl dive into the snow twice - not sure if it caught a Meadow Vole the first time or not, as I wasn't quick enough to get a photo, but I did see it with a Meadow Vole dangling from its beak the second time. Sorry for the little rodent, but glad that the owl had a tasty snack. The last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous birds of prey was on 8 February 2016, NW of the city, one year ago. It was just the same thrill seeing the one in this photo! "The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl "The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org

From my archives! I still have many old photos of Great Gray Owls that have not been posted and, as I'm just not getting the chance to "get out there" to look, thought I'd grab a shot from my archives. This photo was taken on a day that I actually got up and left the house really early - maybe the only day I've ever done that, when going somewhere on my own? It was taken shortly after the sun had risen and when quite a lot of the snow had melted. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from near its mouth. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too. That was a good winter for Great Gray Owls. Since then, they didn't seem to be seen for a long time but, more recently, people have been seeing them, fortunately. Hope to eventually get out looking, though I'm not sure when. Depends on winter road conditions and also on when the light-headedness I'm getting (like before Christmas) clears up.

Not the best photo, and it is NOT MY MAIN PHOTO (!) but I always think that a distant shot of a bird in its environment can be just as interesting as a very close capture. Also, I kind of liked the bokeh, so didn't want to delete it. Thought I'd slip it in as my second photo, not my main image. On 29 January 2017, I left home hoping to see one species of owl and came home having seen a different species instead! There was no sign of the first kind of owl, despite quite a few other pairs of eyes that had been searching. I don't normally drive from one location to another one that is a long way away, but I did this day, and I am so glad I did. I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always those who will do anything to get a closer shot. When I reached my second destination, I slowed down, starting to check the trees and fence line. Then I spotted a car parked further up the road and found that there were a couple of photographers who had already found the owl. In the short time I was there, this beautiful Northern Hawk Owl was busy hunting, flying from tree to tree and along the fence line. I saw the owl dive into the snow twice - not sure if it caught a Meadow Vole the first time or not, as I wasn't quick enough to get a photo, but I did see it with a Meadow Vole dangling from its beak the second time. Sorry for the little rodent, but glad that the owl had a tasty snack. The last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous birds of prey was on 8 February 2016, NW of the city, one year ago. It was just the same thrill seeing the one in this photo! "The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl "The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org

My spirits were lifted on 24 January 2017, with this sighting of a beautiful Barred Owl. I've barely been out looking for Snowy Owls and Short-eared Owls this winter and have only seen a few, very distant birds - at least until the 25 January 2017, when I was lucky enough to see 11 Snowy Owls (all but one, distant) outside the city, with a friend who is brilliant at spotting things. I've also missed a recent Long-eared Owl, a Northern Saw-whet Owl and a Northern Pygmy-owl. The EXIF data for this photo, by the way, is Focal Length (35mm format) - 864 mm, so it just looks closer than it actually was. Always feels strange looking at an owl with dark eyes, not yellow, but they are beautiful. This was only the second 100% wild Barred Owl I’d ever seen. I had seen a family of them near Edmonton, when we went to see ones that had been banded. They were wild birds, but I still hoped to one day see a completely wild one (no nesting box). The owl in this photo was beautiful – crummy light, but I was so happy to see this owl. We very rarely see this species within the city, so it was a real treat. Took a long walk before seeing it, and it took me a few days to recover from it - but it was so worth it. I haven't been back since, unlike a lot of people, who go back day after day and spend a lot of time with it. I guess the bird hasn't been totally stressed, or perhaps it would have moved on. "The Barred Owl’s hooting call, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” is a classic sound of old forests and treed swamps. But this attractive owl, with soulful brown eyes and brown-and-white-striped plumage, can also pass completely unnoticed as it flies noiselessly through the dense canopy or snoozes on a tree limb. Originally a bird of the east, during the twentieth century it spread through the Pacific Northwest and southward into California." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_owl

I have been taking so few photos recently, so am now having to dig into my archives most of the time. The few times I have been out, I have either seen nothing or nothing that I can photograph. Now, there are very urgent things that need to be done, and I must put them first. This morning, 15 February 2017, the temperature is +5C and it's supposed to climb to +12C this afternoon! Hard to believe that we had windchills down to -34C not so long ago. Back to closer to 0C in another couple of days, though. Apart from the last couple of weeks, the last time I was lucky enough to see one of these gorgeous Northern Hawk Owls was a year ago, on 8 February 2016, NW of the city. It was just the same thrill seeing this recent one. The first time I saw the owl in this photo was 29 January 2017. Since then, I have called in briefly maybe three other times, once just for 10 minutes. The first day was by far the best day, as the owl perched on a few fence posts, nicely out in the open. The other times, it has been in one tree or another, or perched high up on top of a utility pole next to an insulator. As you can tell by the sky, the light was terrible for taking this photo. I am not disclosing the area, especially after what some photographers have been doing recently to get close photos of a Barred Owl. While most photographers are respectful of wildlife, there are always a few who will do anything to get a closer shot. "The type of prey the Hawk-Owl catches will determine its eating strategy. For mammalian prey the ritual is generally the same: the Northern Hawk-Owl will eviscerate its prey, eats the head first (especially for prey like the red squirrel, whose head is fairly large), and then—when tackling larger prey—it will eat the organs and cache the remains; with smaller prey, the owl will simply swallow the body whole." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl "The Northern Hawk Owl can detect prey by sight at a distance of up to 800 meters (half a mile). Though it is thought to detect prey primarily by sight, the Northern Hawk Owl can find and seize prey under 30 cm (1 foot) of snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_hawk_owl/lifehistory