Thursday, February 28, 2019

SEVEN SNOWY SUNDAY


First Snowy Owl of the day.
February has been a rough month for me, and I am looking forward to turning the calendar page tomorrow morning, and putting it behind me.

The month wasn't all bad though, and the highlight day was Sunday, February 17th, when Rob and I met up with a couple other bird nerds, Michele and Andrea. It had been ages since we'd all seen each other, and it was spirit lifting to get together for an outing. Michele's two sons also joined us and I think they enjoyed the "Owl Adventure" very much.

Our target bird was the Snowy Owl, Michele had never seen one before, or any wild owl for that matter. Rob and I were hoping to see some Snow Buntings, which we did, and we even had a lifer with our first ever Lapland Longspur. I believe these two birds were also lifers for Michele and Andrea. We had a fun and memorable outing.

(Rob took a pic of every Snowy we saw, whether near or far. Click on the images to enlarge)

Snowy Owl number 2
Snowy Owl number 3
Snowy Owl number 4
Snowy Owl number 5
We ran into a few other birders while driving around, and were given a good tip on where to see some Snow Buntings. This made me very excited, as I hadn't seen any in a couple years, and we ended up having fantastic views, and adding a new bird to our life lists.

Flying Snowy Buntings!
Snow Buntings and one Lapland Longspur.
Do you see the Lapland Longspur?
Michele spotted this beauty when leaving the Snow Bunting spot. Snowy Owl number 6
It's easy to just want to remain inside when it's winter, but outings like this make getting out during the colder months worth it.

While we were driving home we took a little detour and added Snowy Owl number 7 to our list. Unfortunately we'd already parted ways with Michele and her boys, but I think she was pretty thrilled to see half a dozen on her first Snowy outing!

Snowy Owl number 7 is there.....