After a great day on Friday, I screwed up and slept in well past our agreed meeting time. I could only hope that we could salvage the day. Things started looking up when we pulled into the A&W to grabs a couple of breakfast sandwiches to get the day started and we spied a Merlin on the light standard right outside the restaurant. As we headed into the "zone" we were greeted with beautiful "golden hour" light and this herd of 200-250 head of elk. Here is just sample of them.
Things were a little light with a Northern Shrike and the usual ravens and Magpie's, at the end of "my" L road we were able to find some Whitewinged Crossbills.
Back out at the highway we put up a Rough Legged Hawk, that when he flew over an aspen stand a your bull moose trotted out onto the road. So the day was shaping up pretty nicely, we were only 75 minutes into what could be a long day:) Ten minutes later we were enjoying the company of our first GGO of the day.
This is the first time that I have actually seen a GGO in this position. When it checked out the field in front of it, it had to "duck" under the wire. We don't often get to see the colours in the backs of the wings like this.
We spent 25 minutes with individual, and saw a RLH in the background. As we manuvered in the direction of the RLH, we spied a second GGO within 300 yards of the first. It too was on top of a telephone pole, just a little higher up, standing beside the insulator.
90 minutes later we found another GGO, and he was terrifically cooperative. Dan and I were able to get into a tremendous set of positions as this fellow totally ignored our presence. He spent a great deal of time watching the sky for some reason (no crop).
Here is a shot you don't get very often in the day, a time when he looks right at you and closes both his eyes.
Sorry for the slight over exposure.
We watched as he was unsuccessful on three different "attacks", this was after "pounce #2". I like the way his leg is forward and the grass in the foreground.
While we were watching this owl, another GGO flew in across the field and hunted for a while, then disappeared back in the trees, so we know there are at least two owls in that area. After a bit the wind came up a little, and ruffled some feathers.
On the way back home we picked up a couple of other sweetheart birds. We caught this male Spruce Grouse on the edge of the road, but he walked into the woods as we approached. I managed this shot, I am happy with it considering the conditions.
Back at my "L" road where we grabbed the Crossbills earlier in the day, we found 5 or 6 Boreal Chickadees.
I'll wrap up the post here, but will let you know that the elk were still out in the open field as we returned to town. Have a GREAT week.
Turbo
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