Snowy Owl, Voles (20141207) A walk in the park leads to a late Snowy run

With the sun shining brightly I thought it might be a great time to shoot the weasel again. I guess the nice day was not enough to bring him out while I was there. The locals showed up though, like this White-breasted Nuthatch, for Mom.

Of course the Chicky's were present too!  I don't know anyone that gets tired of shooting this cooperative little bird.

I took a little stroll over to the river and managed this shot of a winter resident Mallard. They can be a very tough duck to shoot.

Returning to "the area" I managed to get a couple of Meadow Vole shots.

These little critters have a very tough life. It seems that everything out there except songbirds are out to get them, and even then the Northern Shrike is after them. Coyotes, all owls, weasels, hawks, everything it seems feed on these little fellas.

This little guy has been photo'd a fair amount over the past couple of weeks as well. It is now getting to the point where the crowd is cheering just as much for him as the Weasel :)

I received a call from Tim at about 1:20 p.m. seeing if it would be too late to do a quick Snowy run. "No" says I, we should have time to get a bird or three! So I headed home and awaited his arrival. We nabbed this beauty @ 3:22 p.m.

This bird let us approach and drive passed it, and get out close to the truck to grab some images.

We were finding Grey Partridge everywhere and they were getting to be very frustrating. They just wouldn't let us get close enough for a decent image.

Our third bird of the day was a great spot on my part as it was the first time I actually found one on the side of the road sitting on top of a drift. It flew on our approach with the truck. Once it gained the high ground it seemed much more comfortable with our presence.

I love the yellow eyes that this bird showed while we were shooting.

On the drive home we picked up a 4th Snowy and even spotted a GHO in the tree tops along the road, but we were pressed for time so we didn't stop for images.
Any way you look at it a successful day in beautiful Alberta. Put some wild in your life soon, you will love it!
Turbo