Almost missed, but gratefully seen

I was so glad that I finally got out for a few hours on 15 April 2018, joining a group of friends on a birding trip SE of the city. It was a cloudy day, but beautiful. Deep snow everywhere - no one would ever think this was spring. Though plenty of species were seen, almost all were far, far away and totally out of camera range. However, we did find Great Horned Owls at three different locations, which was great - one in a tree, another on a nest, and this one in a barn. The inside of this structure was dark and the first car missed noticing the owl. Happily, the second car spotted it and caught our attention. I brightened the image so that the owl is more obvious. Any day when an owl is seen is a GOOD day : )

Wow, has our weather taken a turn for the better! This afternoon, the temperature is supposed to get up to 14C and for the coming week, between 15C and 21C! This should get rid of any snow that is still on the ground. To the south of us, snow melt has caused flooding of fields and roads, unfortunately.