There is absolutely nothing great about the first image which is remarkable, but it did represent three days of efforts and one Snowy Owl. This has been the “UnWinter”. Not only is snow not on the ground in this exceedingly strange winter, but for the first time I can ever remember I had not seen a Snowy Owl till mid February (normally I find many of the white owls as early as December 1st). In Superior, Wisconsin which is normally a hotbed for seeing the large white birds, nary an owl.
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A male Snowy Owl showed up at Sax-Zim Bog last Sunday, and I went into overdrive. Through the middle of the past week I chased this rare bird (normally a species not unusual during the winter). Finally on Wednesday I got close to the owl for a few seconds only to have some crows chase the bird out of sight (no pic). Thursday the white owl was hanging out at the far limit of my camera’s reach … really beyond the reach.
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Anyhow … a 3 day effort for one bird and one photo.

I actually knew the bird left its daytime roost out in the meadow about 45 minutes before sunset, but my schedule which includes cooking dinner for Molly and me does not allow for late afternoon or evening birding. I had given up hope of seeing the Snowy Owl close up, and had not planned to visiting Sax-Zim yesterday when a chance encounter with a reader of this blog down near Aitkin while looking for Sharp-Tailed Grouse changed my plans. It was fun to show off and explain habitat. Then I decided, why not the white owl? We drove one hour north and much to my surprise, the owl was out hunting during the middle of the day. Life is good!

This bird tends to hang out starting after the big curve on Hwy #7 just north of Arkola Road through a bit north of Sax Road where the thicker forest begins once more.

This morning was truly special. I was privileged to find and watch four unique species of owls in Northeastern Minnesota … all before 11 am! My first find was a Northern Hawk Owl up in Sax-Zim Bog at 7:00 am, 20 minutes before sunrise. From that point I moved along to various locations both in and outside Sax-Zim and found a Snowy Owl, this Great Gray Owl, and I ended the morning with Les, my local Great Horned Owl. After many days of wind, it was finally calm with snow falling lightly through the air. Make certain you watch the video (link for email subscribers), it is calming … at least it was for me.

And some still images of the Great Gray Owl hunting during the snowfall

For various reasons the other owl species did not perform well for my camera. The Snowy Owl was perched in a meadow many hundreds of yards distant. The Great Horned Owl was tucked up in its “hidey hole”, and the Northern Hawk Owl was close, but contrasted against a blah sky. I had a great time.

Northern Hawk Owl