Snowy Owl!

(click on image for larger version)

Some days the owling is difficult and other days it’s made so easy. There I was at home watching the Wisconsin Badgers pound the Auburn Tigers when the phone rang. The conversation went something like this...

Mike: "Hello?"
Becky: "Hi. It's me."
Mike: "What's up?"
Becky: "Guess what I'm looking at right now."
Mike: "Uhm...I don't know."
Becky: "A SNOWY OWL!"
Mike: "What!? Where are you?"

I made a mad dash out the door with my digiscoping gear in tow, picked up Jesse on the way out of Waunakee and drove to the spot where Becky was waiting along Pheasant Branch Road. Sure enough, there was the beautiful SNOWY OWL perched atop a utility pole.

I angled my car to the side of the road so I could point my spotting scope and camera out the passenger side window, distancing myself about 50 yards from the owl. The car really does make an excellent blind and luckily for me there was barely any traffic because of the football game.

It had been raining most of the day and the owl’s facial feathers looked a little wet. The wind whipped its tail, flapping its feathers like a tattered flag. We didn’t stay long and left the owl alone so it could resume its hunting.

Snowy Owl image © 2006 Mike McDowell