Owliday

I had an amazing "owliday" yesterday.  I saw three owls!

There had been reports of a short-eared owl in the area and so I thought I'd see if I could catch a glance.  As I arrived at the entrance to the site, I asked a woman with a big camera lens walking along the road if she'd seen the owl.  She pointed right in front of us, in the upper limbs of a tall tree!  I immediately pulled over and hopped out of the car, but as I turned around, it had flown off.  But I had seen it!  Inspired, I pulled into the park, where about 10 other birders cum cameras were.  And sure enough, the owl was hunting all along the meadows, back and forth.  Beautiful.  I watched for a long time, not even pulling out Mama's camera, which she had sent with me when I said I was going owling. I did finally pull out her fancy digital SLR but wasn't sure if I were getting any good pics.  Using what my dad calls the "shotgun approach," I took many and a few are even in focus!  It was amazing to see her (the others called it a her, though no one was sure) swoop and soar back and forth. A life bird!  (Meaning it's my first time to see one.)

I love this photo, even though it's out of focus.

The other photographers told me that there was a Snowy visible from the parking lot in a nearby park.  So, when the Short-eared Owl seemed to find lunch and disappear into the grasses, I left to look for the Snowy.

She wasn't in a tree near the parking lot, but she was out on the ice, indicated by the 10+ people with cameras and scopes looking in one direction.  There was even a film crew.

Can you see her?

We're pretty sure it's a "she" based on the amount of flecking, though young males have flecking too.

Can you see her now?  Yep, Snowy's camoflauge works well.

She sat on that ice shelf for quite awhile because she knew her lunch was under there.  The other birders told me that there was a clapper rail under the ledge and that she'd already tried once to get it. Now she was waiting it out.

And waiting.  And waiting.

And we were waiting.

Utnil she swooped down from the ledge and lunged into the crevice.  We even heard her cry out a few times!

And she got it!  Everyone was amazed.  The longtime and professional birders said it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight.  And the film crew captured it for their documentary (they said they'll put the footage out soon.)  It really was amazing, even if it was a bit sobering to think the clapper rail had been alive a minute before.  The cycle of life is not always beautiful, even if it still looks pretty in these photos.

Eating her lunch.

One of the birders let me take some photos through his great Swarovski monoscope with my cellphone. Wow.
(I laughed that I put that scope on my Christmas list but I must not have been a good enough girl!)

We stood and watched a long time, hoping she'd actually finish and fly off.  But she waited . . . and outwaited me.

There was actually another Snowy--more white, probably a male--about a mile off and visible only with that lovely Swarovski scope.  Three owls.  I saw three owls yesterday!

I smiled the whole rest of the day, especially once Mama helped me see the photos I took and when I could tell the kids and Gommie and Pop about it.

OWLS!!!!