Nothing but fluff

It's a good job that at least some parts of this image is sharp., lol!

Where did my long description disappear to??????? I added it two or three hours ago and now it has suddenly vanished! Will have to add it again.

I love the tiny feathers that owls have, especially around the face. You can see how these tiny feathers can trap the heat to protect the owl in cold weather.

Five of us had such a great day on 21 July 2013. It was a bird outing at Bow Valley Provincial Park, west of Calgary, at the foot of the very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. I knew that I would be looking for wildflowers, insects and so on, as well : ) When we got to the meeting place in the city, the leader pulled out a poster for the day's event that also happened to be going on at the park at the same time. To my absolute delight, it mentioned a Bird of Prey exhibit! After our first walk, which was the Flowing Waters trail, we returned to where everyone had parked and we had an hour in which to wander round the various exhibits. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a row of owls of different sizes - a tiny Burrowing Owl, a Short-eared Owl, a Barn Owl (which we don't get in Alberta), a young Great Horned Owl with enormous eyes (seen in this image), a Turkey Vulture, and a Golden Eagle! They were tethered along the edge of the trees and needless to say, there were plenty of other people taking photos. Despite the mix of shade and harsh sunlight, I got the chance to click to my heart's content : ) Later found out that many of my photos really were not well taken, but I got at least one that came out OK for each species ... phew! Thanks so much to the people down at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre (near Lethbridge, down towards the Canada/US border) for bringing your gorgeous birds of prey for us to see! I have been south to the Centre three times I think, and always wish I could go back again, but it's not somewhere I can drive to, so this was such a treat!