Snowy Owl At Sundown

Despite numbers being less than in some recent years this winter is turning into a glorious one for snowy owls. 

Each year I am happy if I can develop a relationship with a couple of owls over the two or three months they are with us.  The trick is to find the same owl regularly which is not easy. 

There is a misconception that all snowy owls with heavily barred feathers are female. But juvenile males have similar barring.  And, telling one young female from another is also challenging. It helps me to know their roosting and hunting habits and I make a mental note ‘she is from Lloyd’s field’ or ‘she is from Larry’s field’. 

A couple of weeks ago I had a wonderful encounter with a mature female owl.  I found her on a snow covered woodpile behind a farm belonging to one of the many Mennonite families I’ve come to know.  Snowy owls moult each year which gives clues as to their age and sex. There’s evidence of a lot of moulting on this one’s flight feathers and I would guess she is, maybe, three years old or more.

While two tractors noisily deposited wood chips at the base of the pile the owl ignored them. It has got me wondering, she is more comfortable around human disturbances than most owls……has she over-wintered here before?

Some snowy owl researchers believe snowies aren’t predictable and don’t always reach the same winter sites. But I know from other researchers that there are exceptions. 

Two years ago I photographed a female in the adjacent field on an almost daily basis. She would catch pigeons around the grain silo next to this woodpile. Could this be the same bird? Of course, without GPS tracking this is speculation.

For the past week I have been taking care of my son’s dog, Chango, while Conor is on a music tour. I don’t like leaving Chango alone at home so I have only been out once to see the owls in that time.  That was Saturday when the conditions were irresistible. I have sat in the snow as the wind chill reached -28C, or during whiteouts. So Saturday was a welcome change. Yes, it was cold but the light was perfect. Better yet it didn’t require nerves of steel to drive the icy roads.

A fellow photographer was parked along a road watching a large female in the middle of a field. Not wanting to disturb the owl I said I was going to come back later. It was an exceptionally clear sky so I reckoned the owls might roost a little longer than usual. And we might have some excellent light to work with once they did choose a spot from which to hunt.

I found another two owls and managed a few images before returning to this owl. The other guy was kneeling in the snow maybe ten metres into the field. Through my binoculars I could see the owl had remained in her roosting spot. Clearly, she was watching the two owls I had previously located.

Announcing I was going to move across the field, keeping distance between me and the owl, the other photographer asked if he could accompany me. I appreciated his consideration. I also know the farmer has granted him permission to enter this field. Some photographers would just assume they could.

So the pair of us moved in the field with him following my footsteps. It was slow going as there were pockets of snow that came up to our knees. Staying on our feet was a challenge in some places.

The owl watched us but we were maybe forty or fifty metres away.  After looking around for fifteen minutes or so, and with the sun going down, she suddenly shifted position. I could not believe our luck. She took off and came straight towards us before landing on a nearby hydro pole.

Moulting of this female owl’s flight feathers helps identify her as the same owl as above.

To my surprise she came flying directly towards us.

Here she passes just a few feet above my head.

It was only while going through my images and seeing the moulting pattern on her wings  that I realized this was the same owl from the wood pile. And, the fact she wasn’t intimidated by two photographers in close proximity reminded me of the one I had established a relationship with two years earlier. She too had tolerated me bringing a photographer to meet her on one occasion.  Was it her? If so does she remember me? I’d love to think so. 

Fingers crossed, I hope to see her a few more times this winter and perhaps see her hunt. And, now I am even more curious as to whether this is my ‘old friend’. Stay tuned!

                                                                                          -30-

As Canada now faces  unprecedented economic pressure from the Trump government I am joining the ‘buy Canadian’ movement. Never having focused on this I have asked friends for advice. Here is a link one of them sent me:

https://madeinca.ca/grocery-store-guide/

I am proud to be Canadian and I have many friends in the United States having graduated from Colorado State University.  We must take care of each other.