Snowy Owls – At Last!

Over the past few months I have gone looking for snowy owls in my favourite fields, the ones I have been finding owls for the past twelve years. No luck for the first half dozen visits. Then one day in the first week of the year I found three owls in the same field. 

One was clearly and adult male. Another appeared heavily barred and I believe is an owl born earlier this year.  The third is the one I have been getting acquainted with.

There is evidence of moulting on her flight feathers and, although I hesitate, to guess the age of individual owls, I believe this is her second winter.

Just before sundown, with the permission of the landowners, I have been going into the fields where she roosts during the day. In my experience, most owls are beginning to look around for a place to begin their evening hunt at that time.

On the first couple of encounters I approached to within 40 metres or so, took a few pictures of her on the ground, then retreated to my car.

She stared at me but remained on the ground. I wanted her to see my face and recognize I was not a threat. It’s a method I have employed for a dozen years now.

My first encounter with this female owl.

Snowy owls are remarkably astute. They have good memory too. A few years ago Joy Huggins, who does incredible work at the Waterloo wildlife rehab facility called  Wildlife Haven, invited me to visit a yearling female snowy owl that a farmer had brought to her. It had a broken wing.

It was a remarkable experience as I fed this bird rat meat using a pair of barbecue tongs. When the bowl of this ‘delicacy’ ran out the owl watched me walk down the corridor to where Joy was preparing more. The owl stared at me. Two days later I returned to the facility as a volunteer driver tasked with the responsibility of delivering the owl to The Owl Foundation, a fantastic raptor rehabilitation centre in Vineland, Ontario.

About six months later Annick Gionet, one of two zoologists at The Owl Foundation, invited me to attend this same owl’s preparation for release. A pilot would fly her up to James Bay, Ontario following the required preparation.

Together with Brian Hayhoe, the other zoologist there,  I entered the long flight pen that the owl had graduated to. Annick and volunteers waited in the corridor outside. The owl immediately recognized me and stared intently while she was banded, weighed and sprayed with insect repellent to protect against West Nile virus. 

I wrote about the whole procedure for The Toronto Star. As a courtesy, I also provided The Owl Foundation with photos I had taken.

Getting back to this year’s female owl, a few days ago I spotted her in a field early in the afternoon. I knew she was roosting so I continued driving around hoping to find other owls. When I returned about an hour later she had moved to the middle of the field and was perched on what I later learned was a rifle target.

I trudged through deep snow and chose a vantage point that gave me a contrasting background where I settled down in the snow. Since it was getting near twilight I could see her looking around in different directions.  ‘Fly this way’, I whispered. Although the light was poor I was pleased when she did fly past me and landed on a nearby grain silo.

 

Although the images lack much detail, owing to the poor light, I view it as another good step toward gaining this owl’s trust. A few more encounters and it is  possible that I will see her actually catch prey.

A couple of days later I found her in deep snow about three hundred metres from the road. Thanks to my decade long relationship with the landowner I was able to park my car behind his barn and walk out from there, shortening the distance I needed to cover through the snow.

An adult male was perched on a nearby hydro pole. And, another female was two farms away and I noticed ‘my’ female looking around checking the out. After regurgitating a pellet (indigestible parts of prey she had swallowed the day prior) she took off across the field. 

Flying across the field 

I have since learned she has expanded her territory. Indeed, I saw her perched on a hydro pole in the area yesterday. But I elected to photograph another female. I am confident that in coming weeks I will see her hunt – which is always a special moment – and if I am really lucky, perhaps I will capture an image or two.

                                                                                              -30-