It was early in the week when I decided to shoot a message over to a good friend and fellow photographer, Chris M. I had helped a few people see their first ever Snowy Owl this winter, taking full advantage of the huge irruption that the U.S. is currently in the midst of. Chris however, was the one friend that I had promised I would help, and I still hadn't gotten him to his first Snowy. I knew of a location not far from my house, where multiple owls had been seen within the past two weeks, and had a few other locations to check as well if it didn't work out. All that was required was a little bit of travel and time on Chris's part, and I was glad he was able to do so.
Wednesday morning he stopped by my house, and I loaded up all of my gear into his vehicle, and we headed towards our destination for the day. If all went according to plan, Chris and I would get to see at least one Snowy Owl. We made good time, all the while discussing the behaviors of the animals we most loved to photograph, and catching up on some personal stories. When we arrived in the general area, we pulled over near a farm and began to scan the surrounding corn fields. It wasn't long after we saw the farmer pull out of his driveway and come pull up behind us. He knew exactly what we were looking for, and was more than obliging and helpful with his assistance. He told us that earlier in the morning he had seen one, then went to where he saw it. He was going to come find us and lead us to the spot if he was able to re-locate it. We pressed on, searching for others in the area.
It had been maybe 15-20 minutes at the most, before he came up behind us again on another road, and told us he had found the owl. We decided to follow him in the car to the spot, and so he led us down the road, when ahead of us, a large white bird flushed up from a tall snow pile on the roadside as the farmer passed by. Game on!!
The bird did not fly too far away, and Chris was ecstatic to have his first Snowy Owl under his belt. We took the time to photograph it, and talking to the farmer found out that it was definitely not the bird he was talking about. So, he gave us rough directions to where the other one was, and went on his way. We were unable to follow his directions (to our knowledge) and so ended up just cruising the area I had mapped out. Here is the first Snowy of the day from Wednesday.
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| Snowy Owl #1, Wednesday |
Cruising along, we come across a road that was a little ways east of where we thought we should be, but we decided to head up the road anyways, and just stop so I could scan the fields around us with my binoculars. I started with the fencerow on the left, and didn't have to look any further, there was Snowy #2, a ways out but still there nonetheless!
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| Snowy Owl #2, Wednesday (dead center) |
As I continued to watch this owl, something else caught my attention in the sky. Two large birds were flying by, and were a good surprise in late January, a pair of Sandhill Cranes! Chris and I decided to go back towards the first owl to see if it had moved much, as it was very active. As we turned off of the road we were on to head back, Chris and I almost simultaneously spotted a rounded shape peering over a hill at us, Snowy #3 in all of her snowman head-like glory! Photos eluded us due to lighting. We continued on, and went back to the spot of the first owl, and almost immediately spotted an owl on the left. But something was amiss here... This one looks to be heavily marked, like a young female. Wasn't the first one a lightly marked young male type? You bet! Owl #4 was confirmed when a Red-Tailed Hawk flushed owl #1 up from the opposite side of the road! The owl flew to the back end of the field owl #4 was in, and is barely visible in this photo of the two.
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| Snowy #4 (bottom left) and Snowy #1 (top right) |
Chris and I had now seen four Snowy Owls! We went back to the farmer's house to let him know of the find, and also to enjoy the Eurasian Collared-Doves he had in his front yard again. He was stunned and ecstatic to hear of a 4th in the area, as he and his friends had known of only three for weeks. We continued to speak of this and many other wildlife phenomena and occurrences (this guy really enjoyed his PBS nature programs). Always great to get to speak with the people who have been in these areas for so long!
We decided to take one more loop around, to try for a 5th owl, and thought we were successful when we found a young female waaaaaay out in a corn field. But alas, this one was most likely the same one peering over the hill at us earlier. Still cool to see!
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| Snowy Owl #3 |
I was very happy to help a friend find his first(s), and I always love to see a Snowy or two!
Friday afternoon was designated for finding a new year bird for my Kane County big year, which I desperately needed after nearly two weeks without finding anything new. Time spent at Tyler Creek was altogether very quiet and non-productive. A stop over at the Carpenter Dam in Carpentersville was also nothing new, but presented me with good photo-opps with a Bald Eagle and a Brown Creeper.
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Brown Creeper |
Part two will be up tomorrow, telling all there is to know about Superb Owl Sunday! (Yes, I did that pun too!)
Brendon Lake
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