It's Snowy Time!

Although I do not have an honorable representation, I do have photographic evidence of how I will spend my winter...chasing Snowy Owls! As the irruption year of the snowy has definately begun, the northern parts of Illinois are starting to spot quite a few owls in the past few weeks. Lucky for me, there happens to be one making it's temporary home in the farm fields about 30 minutes from my home. Interestingly enough, he chose a place near a giant wind farm! I can't believe the turbines doesn't intimidate him:



This is the second Snowy I have ever seen, so it's distance is frustrating. My first was a few years ago, back on Christmas Day 2006. That morning was as magical as Santa Clause...

Here's how that morning went:





Snowy Owls: They are birds of the Arctic Tundra. They are commonly found in Canada, Alaska, and northward. Some Snowy's venture southbound when their food source is scarce (voles and lemmings are their staples, but they do eat rabbits, pheasants and other small animals). The Chicago lakefront gets a few visitors almost every winter, which are mainly juveniles who lose their way. My first snowy was discovered 50 miles south of where I live. I found out about it through the birding hotline on Christmas Eve of 2006. My plan was to go to the site on Christmas morning, before I went to meet my family for the holiday. The information I had was semi-specific, so I had road crossings and landmarks to check. None of that information has a guarantee of a sighting, but I didn't want to miss him if he was just resting on his wayward journey. I got up before dawn and headed for my destination along with my friend Pam. Our research led us to believe that the best time to find him would be at dawn when the snowy would be looking for breakfast, before finding a place to rest for the day. We followed our directions and were nearing our destination with our anticipation building with every mile. With our fingers crossed, we started scanning the fields for anything white. We found alot of Walmart bags, and milk jugs cleverly disguised, and pushed on. We are getting close to the crossroad we are looking for. We now need to find a rusty corrugated steel barn with 2 windows. (When you are in farm country, every barn is practically the same.) We see a barn in the distance all by itself in the field. From where we were, it looked like something white was at the peak. Could it be? As we approach, we get our cameras ready. Yes! We can't believe our luck. It was amazing to see him, because we are not supposed to. He doesn't belong here, and yet, here he is! We grabbed our tripods, set them up outside our respective windows, threw on our remote shutter cables and snapped away. He never left. We were so thrilled that he wasn't disturbed by us, that we thanked him and left after plenty of shots. We came back a few more times after that day, and found him in the cornfields, and once, luckily enough, on a utility pole just as the sun was setting. He was a beautiful bird and a prize for any wildlife enthusiast!

Now, if only I could talk this years bird into a closer shot...