From my July archives

Not my best owl photo, but this was the last Great Gray Owl I saw NW of Calgary, back on 27 July 2013. A group of us met at Sarah Leete's again (first time was on 15th July 2013), to do a BioBlitz along the E side of the Perrenoud Wildlife Reserve, NW of Calgary. This means that an extensive list is made of all flora and fauna seen during the day. I wasn't expecting the walk/hike to be quite so far! The drive from home to Sarah's takes about an hour and a half, but I allowed a bit of extra time as I never know what traffic will be like. As it turned out, I was half an hour early - and this is what I saw! A beautiful Great Gray Owl, hunting for breakfast. It didn't stay for long, but I got two or three shots that I'll keep. I was really, really hoping that it would stay where it was till the rest of the group arrived, but it ended up flying off into the trees in the distance.