A face at the window, but not an owl : )

On 25 January 2014, I spent an amazing day with friends Cathy and Terry, south of Calgary. A full day of excitement and enjoyment that left me tired out, but so happy. I had been missing being out and taking photos and was feeling lethargic and extremely tired, so this invite was welcomed with open arms. The crazy weather soared to a balmy 11C, though a lot of the day was colder, with a strong wind! Along one of the gravel backroads, we came across this old barn and noticed something in the window - a Pigeon, ha. Even though it was not an owl, I thought it still made a nice scene.

Can you believe that we saw 17 owls that day? SEVENTEEN! I didn't photograph quite every single one, but my friends will let me know exactly how many of each owl we found, once they've gone through their photos. It was something like 10 Snowy Owls and 7 Great Horned Owls or maybe 11 Snowies and 6 Great Horned Owls. The closest Snowy Owl was seen when it was early evening and the light had gone, and my photos are all blurry. The other owls were little more than a tiny speck in the far, far distance, but I still managed to get some kind of shot of some of them (not fit to post!), using 48x zoom plus cropping. Perhaps I should add that maybe 16 of the owls that were seen would never have been seen by less experienced birders (and I include myself in that category!). My friends have brilliant eyes when it comes to spotting owls! Just left me shaking my head each time they found one! I'm not too bad at finding owls, but not at that distance!

10:00 a.m. this morning and it has just started snowing. Unless it stops very quickly, it will end up covering the ice that is everywhere, making it treacherous, especially for walking.