Time was a scarce commodity today, and therefore I decided to work with my “backyard birds”. Thankfully, given I live on the edge of a forest across from Amity Creek, there is plenty of opportunity to photograph “local” birds.
Hairy Woodpecker
John and I drove up to the Sax-Zim Bog this morning. Our goal and hope was to find and photograph a Great Gray Owl. Although the skies were gray once more, we experience a magical day … not one, or two, or three, but four great gray owls made their presence known for our cameras.
The most magical experience of the day was watching two owls (mates?) play with each other in the treetops. Each owl would drive and do other airborne feats on the wing at the other bird, but in a totally nonthreatening manner. Even more hard to believe we saw these two great gray owls at approximately 11:00 am. Whatever happened to “nocturnal”!
Finally we visited a countryside feeder where the home owners had reported evening grosbeaks. We are not disappointed in this quest either, as our eyes feasted upon over 125 birds in the flock!
The Great Gray Owls of Sax-Zim Bog
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Breakfast Time for Evening Grosbeaks
After ten, count them … ten days of gloom, clouds, fog and rain … some sun finally reappeared on Day 328 of my project (Wednesday, December 17, 2014). I was almost giddy with excited at 6 am when I looked outside and saw the moon and stars. Could it be true? Were the skies clear.
With trepidation I waited the almost two hours till the expected sunrise. Would the skies stay clear? Yes! Thus, I bring you the photobombing Common Redpolls of Old Vermilion Trail … in the sun (look for the second bird in the photo!).
