Monday, March 23, 2009

Great Gray and Great Horned Owl

Here's one last image of the Great Gray Owl we recently saw up north.
Also, is one of a pair of Great Horned Owls I found last week sitting out as a sentinel not far from its nest.
Soon I hope to find Bluebirds and Tree Sparrows to photograph , if this crazy wind ever calms down and the sun decides to come out :-)

Great Gray Owl



Great Horned Owl

15 comments:

Shelley said...

Another gorgeous owl photo!!
(And another photo that makes me ponder- "how can I too get such clarity!" LOL!)

Tina said...

Nick,
Wow!!! What an amazing photo..how lucky you are to have seen this guy and he sat for such a great picture!!
He is beautiful and what a face...how thrilled you must have been, after facing those temps and that wind, to walk away with this photo!!
Congrats!!

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Lovely picture.I am looking forward to seeing your pictures of the spring arrivals.
Blessings,Ruth

John Carlson said...

Hey Nick,
The Tree Sparrows are stacking up here in MT so they should be showing up there soon when the weather decides it is finally spring.

Nick S said...

Thanks everyone. Seeing that Great Gray was a real treat. I'm sure every time i see one in the future, it will be just as exciting :-)
Thanks John, I'm heading out on Friday to see if I can find some. One was seen at Pike Lake last week, so I guess they are slowly trickling through..

Kelly said...

...I always love your owl photos. You get such amazing shots. You should start seeing the Tree Sparrows soon, because most of our flock have left the yard. It's so sad to come home and not see them outside the kitchen window. I still have a few hanging around, though.

Anonymous said...

Wow. What a treat his is. I never get to see any owls except once or twice the Screech Owls were around.

Nick S said...

Thanks guys. In most cases you really have to put the hours in and look for them.
The Great Gray was almost in the middle of nowhere on an empty road, just surveying the land from its perch, plus we were travelling with a guy who really knows his stuff where Owls are concerned. As far as the recent Great Horned Owl goes, I spotted him from the car across a huge field. I then I hiked about half way across, through knee deep snow to get that shot.
Early morning when the sun is coming up is a great time to look and you train your eyes to spot things in the trees from a good distance away.

John Theberge said...

Great pics, it's crazy windy here too, and frigid.

Peggy said...

The lighter morph of the "northern" Great Horned Owl is awesome! As always, love the Great Grey! Especially the snag he posed on!

holdingmoments said...

Great shots as ever Nick.
Beautiful birds.

Andor Marton said...

Amazing picture. The great gray is just awesome. Such a bird I saw only once and that was in a zoo. Congrats!

artuso birds said...

Hey Nick, Just curious how "up north" this was - in southeast Manitoba they have already moved off winter feeding grounds and are harder to see than in February?
Christian

Nick S said...

Thanks guys.
Hey Christian, we were at Shell Lake and also Spiritwood.
We only found the one Great Gray all day, but they could still be around.

Philip said...

This grey horned Owl looks quite close to our Gaint eagle Owl I think Great shot Nick :)