Great Gray Owl - from the archives

No time to get out with my camera so, like I have been doing the last few days, I will add the description that I wrote under a previously posted photo, taken on the same day.

"If I remember correctly, the last Great Gray Owl I saw was on 1 June 2016, so it had been roughly a year since then - till yesterday! What a great day our group of four people had, taking part in the annual May Species Count, 2017. We travelled in just one car, which worked out well. On the 2016 May Species Count, we had been unable to find a Great Gray, but I drove back to the area the following day, and found two of them. No matter how many times I see one of these owls and no matter how many hundreds/thousands of photos I've taken of them, each owl is just as exciting as the very first.

The owl in this photo was on a fence post when we first saw it. As is usually the case with these owls, it was focused on finding a Meadow Vole for a snack and in fact did catch one while I was watching. It moved to a few different fence posts in its search. Once it had caught its prey, it ate it there, down on the ground - with its back to us, of course. I was kind of hoping it would fly back up to the fence with it, but it didn't.

While I was taking photos, various people came along the road, a couple in cars, but most were cyclists out for a long ride on such a beautiful, sunny day. The owl basically ignored everyone, giving just a quick glance at us every once in a while. Their concentration never fails to leave me in awe.

"Although the Great Gray Owl is the tallest American owl with the largest wingspan, it is just a ball of feathers. It preys on small mammals and has relatively small feet. Both the Great Horned and Snowy owls weigh half again as much, and have larger feet and talons. The oldest recorded Great Gray Owl was at least 18 years, 9 months old and lived in Alberta." From AllABoutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/lifehistory

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl

I've just seen the exact number of species we saw yesterday - 72! Amazing, really. Three pairs of great eyes - plus me : ) Part of our Count covers some of my favourite roads, so it is not surprising that I enjoy it so much. Once the Count had finished, I drove a few of the roads again on my way home, mainly focusing on two pairs of Mountain Bluebirds that I had enjoyed watching last year. Needless to say, I went home feeling very happy after a long day of birding, and oh, so tired! In fact, so tired that, despite a day mostly at home yesterday, I was still so tired by the evening that I just couldn't look for and edit any photos for today : ) Most unusual for me - I usually fight tiredness, but definitely failed yesterday.

Then today, 30 May 2017, I was out for the day south of the city with my Daughter (a belated day out for my birthday and Mother's Day), to Nanton and a few roads nearby and then making our way to Frank Lake and finally ending up at the Saskatoon Farm, where we decided to have an early supper. My favourite kind of day, so thank you, Rachel, as always!!"