The “other bird” … this was not the bird with which I was hoping to begin the third year of “365 Days of Birds”. The “other bird” is beautiful in its own right, but folks … I wanted to photograph a rare Arctic Phase Great Horned Owl! This owl has a beautiful off white color, and occasionally comes south down to Minnesota in the dead of Winter.

Thus, yesterday I hike for 90 minutes looking for my target bird. Walk 25 yards, stop, turn the head and scan all the trees … repeat … repeat … etc. … success! 30 yards from me on a horizontal oak branch was the rare Arctic Phase Great Horned Owl. I was motionless. Only my head was turning. Eureka … perfect line of sight through the branches and soft sunset light was on the owl. There was never time to raise my camera which was turned off and hanging around my neck. I pleaded in my mind for the owl to not fly, but to no avail. Oh no! Madam owl took a look at me and said sayonara! I have a great picture in my brain of this bird, but no pic in my camera! 🙂

Oh yes, the “other bird”. Fifteen minutes earlier while looking for the owl, I found this pileated woodpecker. Normally a pileated posing for a photo makes me happy!

Happy New Years folks, and welcome to year #3!

The Other Bird … A Pileated Woodpecker