Yesterday's treat : )

I've had such a problem trying to adjust the colour of this image - and now I give up. Looking up into an overcast sky just never seems to work for me and my camera. I just can't do justice to this magnificent Snowy Owl female (or juvenile?) that we saw yesterday afternoon, east of the city. In the morning, a few of us had got together with owl bander, Richard Chamberland, who had come down to Calgary. He very generously invited a few of us to go looking for a certain Northern Hawk Owl, which we didn't manage to find. From there, we drove south and then east of the city, hoping to be able to find and band a Snowy Owl. One was seen, far in the distance, on the ground. It flew to a couple of very high poles, but stayed there. After Richard had had to leave to do other things, three friends and I continued to travel the backroads, coming across this beautiful female in a place where they had seen her before. She posed for us on an aerial of some sort as well as a couple of very tall poles. This particular one was wooden, which made a welcome change. From my photo, you would think that she was around eye-level and close, but no such luck, ha. The best view for marvelling at this owl's wonderfully dark feather pattern was when we saw her from the side - will post those photos over the next little while. Thanks so much, Richard, for giving up your morning for us - it was good to see you again - and thanks, Phil and Rob, for the ride around the Prairies and for showing Bonnie and me this beautiful bird. Much appreciated!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_Owl