Snowy Owl 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13!

I asked myself the other day, and some others, where my number of Snowy Owls to be seen this winter would end at. I had no answer, and friends had guessed between 15 and 20. As you can see from the title, I did get close to 15... and hey, it's not quite over yet so we shall see. But 13 different Snowy Owls this winter is astounding to me.

Re-tracing my path a few days after the last adventure. I quickly found what I call numbers 8 and 9, as both of these Snowy Owls were in the same general area as just days earlier. The adult male (#2) was in the vicinity as well. And then as I turned a corner, I noticed yet another Snowy Owl in this 2 km radius, making for 4 Owls (the most I have ever seen in this stretch) and this Owl became #11 to me.

Snowy #8 roosting in the morning on a trailer out in a field.

Snowy #9 was REALLY far out in a farmer's field.

And here be Snowy #11. Female or young male?

Please note, I did stay inside my truck as I took these shots. All the Owls were out on farm fields so roadside is the best I could get with any of them.

Something caught it's attention, or it grew tired of my attention upon it and away it went deeper into the field.

And one day later, a report came in of two Snowy Owls in another area where I had seen only one previously. I took a chance the following day, right before work. It was quite a trip across the QEW and I was hoping to get 30 minutes in the area before I had to turn around and head back the other way to work. Traffic was heavy. And as I exited the QEW, I looked at the clock. If the last stretch of road was good, and the Owls could be found quickly, I had maybe 15 minutes now. A part of me wanted to turn around and head back to Mississauga. But another part, a louder part within said "You've come this far, continue!" And of course my rubber arm was twisted with ease. And I still am very happy to this day that I did.

I present to you, Snowy Owl #12! A real treat with this one because she was putting on quite a show for us in the marina, having caught herself a Ring-billed Gull for a meal. I still only had 15 minutes with her but I was A-OK with this. She, much like all the others, was some distance off; but the feasting show through my binoculars and the lens was just awesome! (I did see the other Snowy Owl, just a bit of it, at the far end of the marina, along the break wall).

She has the Gull in her talons. And she hopped with it across the dock until she got to a more comfortable spot. Four hops with the carcass... thump, thump, thump, thump.

Back to her meal.

And a short break just before I left for work.

I was buzzing all afternoon at work! 12 Snowy Owls now! And the "meal ordeal" played over and over in my head.

And then, that night, as I got on the 401 to head home after work... what do I see but yet another Snowy Owl! It was sitting on a lamp post at Hwy 401 and Hwy 410. There was nothing I could do other than slow down a little (making sure no traffic behind me), look up at it as long as I could until I passed it, and continue home. I was all smiles as the rush of the Snowy Owl sightings came back to me.

To some it appears I am bragging. But I am not really. It became my own personal bit to keep track of them for myself. Many miles have been driven, much gas has been burned, and a lot of time has been spent over the past 3 months. I think I am allowed to keep track and share it for those who are interested.

We are now into our first full week of March. I don't expect to see anymore. But you never know...

Snowy #8, 9 and 10!!!!

So, anybody who has been following my blog in the last while knows I have been enjoying the "Snowy Owl Invasion" this winter.

I had my seventh Snowy sighting just over a week ago and I believe I made mention how I had hoped to reach ten Snowy Owl sightings, as in ten different Snowy Owls, before the end of the winter. Well, lo and behold, I racked up 3 this past Saturday. Two of which were pretty far out in fields, so didn't even attempt to photograph either. Plus, we had driven up to Gravenhurst in one heck of a snow storm that morning for a 3 hour photo shoot at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre. It was a fun but exhausting number of hours. I don't enjoy long drives and especially in snow storms. I drain myself due to stress and heavy concentration with the drive.

The ride home was much better, and we decided to stop off and scope out an area we knew Snowy Owls had been reported seen at. I visited a day earlier and only found the male I have seen a few times this winter. I shouldn't say "only" because he is one beautiful Owl and a treat to see. And the Snowys won't be here past the winter months, so might as well enjoy them. And Saturday with a few extra sets of eyes looking for them, a couple more Snowy Owls were seen after the photo shoot. Much thanks to our friend Amanda for picking them out deep in some farm fields.

And then later that afternoon, Angie and I had a wonderful surprise of seeing yet another Snowy Owl fly south from the airport fields and land on a lamp post along highway 401. As much as I wanted to veer over to the shoulder, hammer on the brakes and get a good lengthy look at him... it just wasn't possible, and definitely a dangerous choice I could have made. Ah well. We know what we saw without any doubts, so he counts as well.

I am not raising the numbers in hopes of hitting 12, 15 or ??? Ten is a darn good number of actual Snowy Owls to see in a matter of 3 months.

But that don't mean I won't keep my eyes open for any more in the remaining weeks of winter or head out to another area when sightings may get reported.

Here are a couple photos of the most recent Snowy Owl that I was able to stop and photograph from a respectable distance. It is a male, and in the numbers of sightings, he is actually number two (second Snowy Owl I saw this winter). But they are all number one in my opinion!

Here he is giving himself a good wash (preening).

Any time I've ever seen him prior, he's just chilling out. Today was a nice show of something different.

Preening was done, I drove past him, had one last look and off I went.

Snowy #7...

Hey, hi how are yas?

This is a real quick bit, got a good one coming up soon with some nice shots.

Today though, I saw my 7th Snowy Owl for the winter. A heavily barred female. She was quite a distance away but nice to view and admire on a very sunny mild February morning along the shores of Lake Ontario.

I am hoping to hit double digits on Snowy sightings before they leave us. I gotta get moving though...

Here she be, heavily cropped.

One of the first Snowy Owls of the season has returned to the area where I saw him back in December (he seemingly disappeared for a few weeks). Got a nice view of him yesterday on our way home from Algonquin Park. He was a lifer for some friends of ours. I had to do some work to the photo to bring him out of the drab grey sky. Kinda cool looking, so I think...

Wish me luck on a few more in the coming weeks.

Cheers!

LIfer! White-winged Crossbills

On Monday January 30th, a short stroll in Lambton Woods, had me standing along a path for a moment trying to take a photo of a White-breasted Nuthatch... which I got as you can see below.

And moments later in flew a flock of 20+ birds very near me. They were incredibly noisy and very active (the ones on the ground anyways). And in a moment I knew they had to be Crossbills.

Angie and I have wanted to see these rare (to us), sporadic winter visitors for a few years now. And a week earlier we ventured to a spot where they were reported 18 hours earlier. Something we tried a few winters back as well but always seemed to be just behind these birds and missing them.

So, with so many "near sightings", I envisioned it in my head how it would be the day I finally see this species. And indeed it played out just like that...

The birds flew in to whatever area I was in and they would pretty much raid it for their food source of seeds within the cones of coniferous trees. Their beak is designed just for that cracking of the cones.

Unfortunately my first sighting had them fly into a spot where many people feed the winter residents of Lambton. Of the say 20 birds, about 12 stayed at the top of the trees (which weren't coniferous) while the other 8 scrounged about the ground kind of like scouts. I had maybe 2 minutes of viewing the birds before they all flew off together north/west in search of food.

If there had been something there for them, I recon all of them would have had at it, and I would have had a much longer viewing of them.

I had my camera with me but didn't even try to take a photo until the last few seconds. For a lifer, I need to see the bird with my own eyes and absorb this into my brain. Trying to get a shot right away would surely kill that "lifer" moment. I have to admit there was a voice in the back of my head saying this a few times "take a picture dumb-dumb". But I just couldn't. And in the final seconds with them, the brush was far too busy for the lens and the lighting was lacking. So no photos for me but the pictures in my head are pretty cool anyways.

Lifers are freaking awesome! I only wish Angie was there with me for this. Hopefully we have another sighting of them before the winter comes to an end, and they are in a spot with a good food supply so we have more than a couple minutes with the birds.

I borrowed the Crossbill image from the internet in a Google search...

Snowy #6

On Sunday January 21, 2012, Angie and I saw MY 6th Snowy Owl for the season and her 5th. She missed the last one I saw due to construction workers scaring her out of a potential roosting/hunting area.

What a sight this guy was! And it's funny because we were off to check out a female Snowy in the area we heard reports of. Lucky for us, the road exit took us by this guy and as soon as we took the turn... Angie shouts "there's a Snowy!"

We had an amazing brief visit with this guy before a couple off-leash dogs flushed him from the fence post.

We never did find the female reported up the road but still may try again another day before the Snowys all head back up to the tundra. Enjoy the pics!

Crack of dawn and Mr. Snowy is possibly still on the hunt for his next meal.

The warm glow of that morning sun is deceiving on another cold January morning.

We are well away from him as you can see.

A walk to the west of the field got a better view of him before a couple large dogs came running over to get a look at this majestic bird for themselves.

I think it is necessary to post this reminder to everyone after my Owl posts, something to remember when you find yourself in the presence of any Owl...

The Owl Code of Ethics (that can be used with any wildlife sightings really)

Absolutely no dogs are allowed.
Keep a minimum distance of five metres from owls.
Be silent; speak in whispers.
Do not linger in front of an owl more than a couple of minutes.
If you cause an owl to fly, do not pursue it.
Do not bait owls with rodents.
No flash photography allowed.
No sound devices allowed.
Do not remove branches or vegetation.
Stay on the existing trails.
If the bird is on private property, please respect that this is private property and view safely from the side of the road.

Report harassment of owls to 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667).

I ask if you find an Owl in your travels to please keep it as quiet as possible. Call it selfish as some will, but it's a matter of protecting the birds. Word travels fast on these creatures showing up in the GTA. And so many people will go seek out the bird. The bird needs to live it's life... to rest and to hunt. These things cannot be done with constant human presence.

Please be responsible and respectful is what I ask.

I saw my fifth Snowy of the season!

I saw my fifth Snowy Owl yesterday.  A good number for me but pales in comparison to some others who have seen more than 2 dozen in Southern Ontario.

This is THE year to see a Snowy Owl in the wild.  As I previously blogged before, there is a Snowy Owl "invasion" or as the proper term is "irruption".  Check out this really cool YouTube video about the invasion, it's only 3 mins long and well worth the viewing.

I love birding and I love taking photos.  Now I've got my fix for the time being on viewing Snowys, I really hope to capture something great in way of a photograph for personal memories of this amazing winter with them.  Too often the birds are far off in fields and other spots where they hope to rest and not be disturbed...  and I can respect that, and I WILL RESPECT that.  One day I will luck out and get THE shot for me.

Here's the 5 Snowys to date...

Snowy #1 was found just east of Toronto along the lakeshore.

Snowy #2, a beautiful near pure white male, found about 35 mins north of Toronto near Newmarket.

The next two made for a 2 Snowy Owl day about 3 hours east of Toronto.  This one is perched way out in a cattle field atop a potential Osprey nest stand.

Despite the distance, this is my personal favorite shot of a Snowy Owl for the winter.  The landscaping and sky just make it so nice.

And #5 was found just down the road from me yesterday.  There is a man working on a boat in the background (blue helmet) and has no idea that a majestic bird is so very near him resting.

Thanks for looking.  I hope to share a few more with you in the coming weeks before they all fly way north again.  And apologies for my absence but it's winter, I got birds to see...  winter really is a great season for birding, believe it or not, you just gotta bundle up and go!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, no matter what/how/where and with who you celebrated the last few weeks.

I love the holidays but really am glad it's over and things can go back to normal.  You know, routines are back in order, the deadly sin "Gluttony" has left the house and it's time to start saving again, clearing up some Christmas bills, and get back to birding and wildlife watching.

Some people do not fully understand why I enjoy it.  I do love to take pictures of what I see out there, it allows me to take home a memory from that outing.  And if it's something really nice, I may develop it, frame it, place it in a photo album, or set it aside for next year's calendar that Angie and I put together for ourselves and a few family/friends.  Another reason is just to show people what is out there if one opens their eyes/ears and keeps their mouth if they chose to go for a walk in a more natural setting than just around the block.  Hey, I am promoting physical activity if one takes an interest in following my steps!  And a walk in the woods can be far more interesting if a person begins to take notice of all the different birds, animals, insects and plants around them whether they walk alone or with someone else.  I'd like to think that the photos I share may also bring awareness in a positive way to the wild world around us.  Some are in disbelief of what I see that is just out our back doors.

Angie called this "our yoga" quite some time ago.  And I've always agreed.  And I've shared this idea with others who much like me, enjoy the outdoors and always carry a camera with them.  Make it about a nice walk away from civilization, being around our wild friends, forgetting work, life's drama and you will come home from it a much more relaxed happier person.  And some have listened to this, so they tell me.  That's great!

I've gotten to know some great people over the last few years who share these interests with me and have the same idea of just enjoying whatever the dirt path takes us to.  While I do enjoy many of my walks alone, the company is great too.  I love the adventure of exploring as I walk and having an extra set of eyes at times is even better.  Of course Angie is my favorite counter-part on these walks but making new friends through this has been amazing.  Being 42, taking care of oneself is even more important now...  both physically and mentally.

Anyways, enjoy a few photos of recent sightings below here.  More to come. 

Happy trails!

A long-eared Owl.  Probably the most skittish species of Owl that I know of.

 A Raccoon sleeping in a tree cavity that might just be a tad too small for him.

 A Red-tailed Hawk along a side road.

 A Northern Pintail Duck.  He's a beauty!

 Always a treat to cross paths with White-tailed Deer.

 The same Hawk from above.  Big beautiful birds of prey.