Snowy Owl - Blog Posts
I found the Snowy Owl! Using the recent sightings reported in the area as my guide, I went driving around Dane, WI yesterday. I stopped to scan a corn field with my binoculars and spotted this guy perched on a fence post.
[ID: A male Snowy Owl sits on a wooden fence post and stares directly at the camera. He is almost entirely white, with a few brown flecks on the wings and breast. His eyes are yellow and partly closed. A light snow falls around the Owl. End ID]
I knew right away the large white bird on the post was the Snowy I was after, so I quickly grabbed my camera and got out to find a good spot to set up. Of course, as soon as I got the bird in frame he decided to fly up to the roof peak of a farm building further away. Even so, I sat down and took a few long-distance bursts in case that was only look I would get. Then I noticed that there was a house among the farm buildings. If someone was home maybe they'd let me take a closer look?
[ID: A male Snowy Owl sits on a wooden fence post and looks into the distance to the left. He is almost entirely white, with a few brown flecks on the wings and breast. His eyes are yellow and partly closed. A light snow falls around the Owl. End ID]
Just as I'd hoped, the folks living there were home and they were happy to let me onto their property for a chance at a better photo. They even pointed out a good spot behind a concrete wall where I could stand totally out of sight of the corn field. It turned out to be such a good blind that all the shots in this post were taken there. And just as we were talking, the Owl flew back down to that same fence post!
[ID: A male Snowy Owl sits on a wooden fence post and looks into the distance to the right. He is almost entirely white, with a few brown flecks on the wings and breast. His eyes are yellow and partly closed. A light snow falls around the Owl. End ID]
He was very cooperative, sitting mostly still while I fiddled with settings and let the auto-focus pick between the snow and the post. I figure he was hunting, scanning the field for little creatures. Then he did a little preening and stretched his neck before taking flight!
[ID: A male Snowy Owl takes flight. He is almost entirely white, with a few brown flecks on the wings and breast. His eyes are yellow and partly closed. His wings are fully extended upward and his shaggy legs hang down below, showing just a hint of black talons. Its eyes are closed to slits. A light snow falls around the Owl. End ID]
[ID: A male Snowy Owl flies low over a snow-covered corn field. He is almost entirely white, with a few brown flecks on the wings and breast. His wings are extended downward, showing the full pattern of white and brown flecks on the flight feathers. His eyes are closed to slits. A light snow falls around the Owl. End ID]
He didn't immediately pounce on anything, instead wheeling up toward a tree across the field. I thought he would land up there, but instead he flushed a smaller dark bird and started chasing it! Zooming in on the photos of the sortie revealed that the enemy was either a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I wish I could have seen how that encounter turned out, but they flew out of sight across the field.
[ID: A male Snowy Owl chases a hawk in the distance, flying through the snowfall near a large barn. End ID]
Even without a high-speed pursuit, seeing the Snowy Owl so close was my top birding moment of the year so far. Many thanks to Dean and Deb for welcoming me onto their property and making this moment possible!
I didn't get a chance to go birding this past weekend, so it's time for another post from the archives. I wouldn't call this my best bit of photography, but it brings me joy nonetheless.
[ID: A female Snowy Owl rests on the ice of Lake Monona. She's crouched next to a small ridge of ice, wings folded and eyes closed to black slits. She's almost entirely white, with black flecks on her wings, breast, and head. The rest of the scene is nearly featureless white snow, with just the occasional ripple made by the wind. End ID]
Last year around this time (late January) we had experienced an irruption of Snowy Owls in Wisconsin. Two owls in particular chose Lake Monona as their favorite rest spot for a couple of months, and they became locally famous for their continued presence around the Monona Terrace.
I had never seen a Snowy Owl in person before, so I took several opportunities to wander the lake and the surrounding areas hoping to catch a glimpse of my first one. It wasn't until late February that I was walking along the Terrace and spotted a lump on the ice that was much darker and less reflective than anything else out there. My heart began to thump faster and my pace increased as I realized what I was seeing. The Owl was resting in the windbreak caused by a small ridge of ice, so I carefully crept into the barest edge of photography range so as not to disturb her.
I probably spent a half hour crouched on the ice, taking the occasional photo each time she moved. Mostly I was happy to sit in her presence and try to match that level of calm and restfulness. I was inspired to make this post today because I just learned that we've had another Snowy Owl visiting Dane County the past two weeks. I'm thinking it might be a good time to go for a drive, looking for a speckled white mound among the corn stubble...
MORE COFFEE MORE COFFEE MORE COFFEE MORE COFFEE MORE COFFEE MORE COFFEE MORE COFFEE!!1!☕☕☕
@jaymewolf999
Yea I'm here....
I'm very British owl
