Today was one of those days when I am thrilled to live on the Arctic Riviera! Instead of extremely cold sub zero weather, when I went owling before sunset the wind was calm, the skies were blue, and the temperature was just a few degrees below freezing. Better yet, my birding hit the jackpot 30 minutes before sunset. I found a Snowy Owl which was beginning its evening hunt. Not only did this owl not mind my presence, at one point while I was watching this bird from a distance of 40 yards, it actually flew over and landed on the pole in the picture directly above my head.

Uff Dah! I actually had to walk away from the Snowy Owl unless I wanted to take images straight up. Now from a distance of 20 yards I waited with my finger on the shutter for the Snowy to fly. Twice there were false alarms as this bird thought it had a vole in its sights, but the third time was a charm! The owl flew and I pressed down and did a burst of photographs. Here are my favorite two images. Now that I know where this bird hunts, I plan on making more late afternoon excursions.

20 minutes before sunrise, I found my first Snowy Owl of the winter! A few minutes after sunrise, the local crow population also discovered Snowy. However, the male owl defended himself well, and refused to be forced off his perch. Thus, I had a fantastic time early this morning and spent 1 & 1/2 hours with this cool bird. I hope you enjoy a few of my photos, plus the video. In total I took 416 images this morning. Hopefully this Snowy will establish a winter territory where I found it … which would mean over two months of Snowy Owl watching / enjoyment.

The short video of the crows attacking the Snowy Owl is at the bottom of the post.

Attack!

Mr. Snowy twenty minutes before sunrise

Getting the evil eye from a Snowy Owl!

White Fluffball

Hanging Out After Sunrise … Crows are Gone!

A video of the crows attacking the Snowy Owl

Two important items with respect to December birding news:

• As of yesterday the Sax-Zim Bog Visitor Center opened for another season of winter birding. I’ll be working next weekend, December 19th and 20th as a volunteer naturalist. Hope to see you in the Bog!
• Help out with this year’s Minnesota Christmas Bird Count. Openings across the state!

Finally, my Snowy Owl which I discovered on Friday, was banded sometime in the past two days. Found the same bird on the same exact roost, but now with a huge wing band and shoe polish on its head. Why? There must be better ways to band which do not disfigure the bird.

Sunday … Snowy Owl with wing band and shoe polish on head

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Friday … Snowy Owl w/o band or head polish