Short Earred Owl and Mange Coyote.

I want to thank Jamie for this shot, it shows a coyote with mange passing just yards away from the Short Earred Owl we were watching. I'd like to point out that this shot was about 350 yards out, in very harsh light conditions. Jamie usually produces much higher quality photos! The idea here was to record what we saw and gain a confirmation that this was in fact a Short Earred. It marks the first time either of us have seen this bird.
Recognized the quality is not great, but thought you might like to see this shot/behavior, the owl did not fly, the coyote just kept on walking.  Let me know if you think I should delete.

Turbo

In search of the Northern Hawk Owl

After the Sunday stroll, I hooked up with Jamie as he had never seen a NHO, so we headed out to find the mystical bird. We had great directions (mostly) as to the Owl's location, but it was not be found. We did manage to find a different Owl, a first for me and that was a Short Earred Owl.  We took photos but he bird was about 350 yards off. Perhaps Jamie will be able to submit something here as a comment?
While we were out we also found this herd of 80+ elk, lounging in a field:

Some Rough Leggeds:

10 Sheep, 40-50 deer. It was a fabulous afternoon, other than the wind came up. Here is a shot I took from the back of the truck:

Everyone have a GREAT work week. I am contemplating trying out a different lens next week.
I also have to acknowledge the fantastic woman I am married to, she allows me the freedom to embark on these adventures.

Turbo

Geese? I don't care for these birds, Northern Flicker, Bald Eagles

Well our Sunday morning walk was back in Carburn Park, where there were promises of potential, but not much really came about.  The Northern Saw Whet has disappeared, but there is always a lot of other birds to see.  Mostly geese, as this is a major fly over area for them going out to forage in farmers fields during the day:

It was cloudy when we started out, then a little sun, then the clouds came back in making it a tough day to get good images.

We did mange to find a few eagles, here is a shot of four, wading in the river:

That was pretty much our Sunday morning walk. A GREAT way to spend a couple of hours.

Turbo

Mallard, Nuthatch, Chickadee Saturday at Fish Creek Park with Friends.

After a successful Snowy hunt, I wanted to try this rental lens out on some birds that I have a great familiarity with, so Jamie and I headed down to Fish Creek PP. I left the 1.7 Teleconverter on as it was near midday and we had a ton of light. We couldn't find the GHO's so we headed over for a Bald Eagle, little luck there, but on the way back we took the opportunity to shoot some mallards, here is one of my best:

We chased a couple of Northern Flickers around, and actually found a nest, complete with resident:

Then it was off to find Canada's bird the Chickadee, Jamie thought he would see if they would "take the bait":

At the end I thought I'd grab a shot of a White Breasted Nuthatch, this one is for my mother:

Another long post, primarily due to the photos. It was a GREAT day!
Not happy with the rental gear, but perhaps it is me.

Turbo

Successful Saturday Snowy Owl hunt with Great Horned Owl and Snow Bunting

What a difference a couple of hours makes when it comes to the outdoors. While not being able to fin any more than one owl on Friday night, Dan, Jamie and I found four Snowy's (two fairly mature males) and a Great Horned. Not too shabby! I say "we" rather loosely as it was our driver Jamie who did the critical target spotting, I was very little help! We added other critters as well; a herd of 13 mule deer, (two of which were Bucks and still had antlers), a couple of pheasants, a Snow Bunting (which was quite accomodating), redpolls, and probably well over 100 Magpies. It was a great morning, the early light was Brutal, as you see in the Snow shot, but it eventually got better. Here are a few photo's that hopefully do the outing justice:

Enjoy!

Turbo

Rental Lens tryout.

I picked up a new 70-200 F2.8 Nikon lens to try out for the weekend. The Friday morning patrol didn't provide much in the way of Photo Ops so Jamie and I decided to head out for some Snowy owls after he got off work.  We headed out to the North east, but were a little disappointed, one snowy owl. We did also spot 50-60 deer, one ring necked pheasant rooster, and a pile of Magpies, they seem to be everywhere. While we did see quite a bit on the cruise, the photo ops were dismal, so I don't really have anything to show for the first day of the rental.  Hopefully Saturday will be better, Dan, Jamie and I are headed back out to the same area for another Snowy Spotting session.  Here's hoping!

Turbo

Skunk Tracks, Spring isn't too far away:)

Bruno and I hit the ASCCA for our now regular Friday 7:30 a.m. patrol. Right away we noticed a significant difference, no cattle. This proved to be reinforced by the 15-20 Mule deer that were hanging around the east facing slope this morning. We haven't seen any deer in that area since the cattle arrived.
-17 C with a bit of a breeze when we headed out so we stayed in the sun and away from the wind for the first while. More muley's a little further along, no moose today though. We found three whitetails in an area that they "normally frequent" when there aren't any cows around, so things look good for more wildlife to start moving back onto the property. I am looking forward to seeing some elk soon. One small flock of chickadee's, many ravens and not much else. On the Aspen trail Bruno spotted some cougar tracks that were probably 2-3 days old. It was a great sunny bright day to be in the woods, the temperature rose to -1C by the time we finished up 4 hours later. A great walk.
Oh, here is a photo of a skunk trail in the snow, I really enjoyed how it "plowed" little ridges on the side of the trail as it waddled through the snow.  With these hibanators out and about, can spring be far off?

Turbo