Springtime Snowy Owl

On the 15th, I was happily photographing birds in SE Arizona, thinking I was having a great day. Then when I checked my email, later in the day, I found my birding buddy back home had photographed a Snowy Owl out on our still frozen lake shore. I've only seen a few in my life and photographing one has been a dream. As we slowly made our way back home, additional emails indicated the bird was still around, but that Voyageurs National Park staff were thinking of closing the ice road (yes, we drive on the lake ice in winter) which gave access to the bird. Beyond my wildest hopes, we arrived home yesterday at noon and by one o'clock I was out on the ice with my friend photographing the owl. A dream come true! We sometimes get Snowies here in late fall/early winter, but a spring occurrence is rare indeed.

Great looking girl Al.

And a well-deserved dream it is...WOW...what a shot! I would think that image has all kinds of possibilities. Great work, Al!

TedEllis wrote in post #18594257
Great looking girl Al.

Thank you kindly, Ted.

ardeekay wrote in post #18594579
And a well-deserved dream it is...WOW...what a shot! I would think that image has all kinds of possibilities. Great work, Al!

Thank you so much, Rog; I can always depend on you to take the time to comment.

Congrats Al, nicely done. I bet it put a big smile on your face.

That is definitely a beautiful shot Al. Congrats!

Strangely, we had a few snowy sightings in Texas this year. I read that there was a weather related shortage of their normal food up north and that forced many to come further south than they normally would.

One of them was found, somewhat emaciated and taken to a local raptor rehab center where is was nourished and then flown back to Minnesota by Southwest Airlines. It was a big story down here and was on the network news for a couple days. http://cw33.com …-to-minnesota-in-comfort/

Beautiful shot, thanks for posting.

Beautiful shot Al, one to be proud of. Makes returning to the cold North rewarding to capture an image like this. I would sure like to get a shot of one someday.

Shackleton wrote in post #18595205
Beautiful shot, thanks for posting.

And thank you for taking the time to comment; I appreciate it.

Grizz1 wrote in post #18595422
Beautiful shot Al, one to be proud of. Makes returning to the cold North rewarding to capture an image like this. I would sure like to get a shot of one someday.

Thank you kindly. It's only the 5th one I've seen in my life; the first was in the 50s (yes, I'm that old!) and one was dead and the other two were way in the distance. So, I am indeed thrilled.

budcam wrote in post #18594889
Congrats Al, nicely done. I bet it put a big smile on your face.

It did indeed. Thank you for responding.

EyeSpyEagle wrote in post #18594924
That is definitely a beautiful shot Al. Congrats!

Strangely, we had a few snowy sightings in Texas this year. I read that there was a weather related shortage of their normal food up north and that forced many to come further south than they normally would.

One of them was found, somewhat emaciated and taken to a local raptor rehab center where is was nourished and then flown back to Minnesota by Southwest Airlines. It was a big story down here and was on the network news for a couple days. http://cw33.com …-to-minnesota-in-comfort/

Wow, that's a long way down! Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Wow is the word du jour Al, what a thrill and well done, glad you got home in time to spot her. We had quite a few in Nova Scotia this winter but I only saw one. There are still a couple hanging in down in the south end of the province.

Wallace River wrote in post #18595863
Wow is the word du jour Al, what a thrill and well done, glad you got home in time to spot her. We had quite a few in Nova Scotia this winter but I only saw one. There are still a couple hanging in down in the south end of the province.

Thanks, Ian. I heard there is at least one still hanging around in S. MN somewhere too.