Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Phantom of the North

Posting just the one photo today as I got up much too late and have a pile of things that I have to start seeing to. Looks beautiful outside, sunny and plus 7C!! Feels so good to be out of the deep-freeze, when windchills got down to as low as -34C. This is a fully zoomed image, Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm, and cropped very slightly. This is a photo from my archives, taken on 28 March 2013. This Great Gray Owl was the first of four that I was lucky enough to see that morning, two closely and two far more distant. At the moment, I'm feeling a bit 'owl deprived', ha, ha, because I'm having no luck finding a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl, except on the one day when they were so far away, you could barely even see them. So, last night, I took a look at one of my very old owl folders and picked this photo, to remind myself of just how lucky I have often been, when it comes to owls of any kind : ) The year 2013 was a great year for seeing these magnificent birds. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed out of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light is always different each time. I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too : ) All about luck and timing. "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

A photo from my archives, taken on 28 March 2013. This was the first Great Gray Owl that I came across that day, on a drive NW of Calgary. Caught it in beautiful light, which was a real treat. After much watching and listening, this beautiful owl finally decided to "go for it", plunging into the snow-covered ground closer than I was expecting. I don't think it was successful, though. I was very lucky that day, seeing another close owl, and then, later, two much more distant owls. Since then, very few people seem to have been seeing these amazing birds of prey in that whole area. It's quite a long drive for me, so I've only been up there a few times since, and saw nothing. The last time I drove out that way was on 28 October 2014, on a drive north to the Didsbury area. I returned to Calgary via Water Valley and Grand Valley Rd/Horse Creek Rd. Saw quite a few Magpies, three or four Crows and one Gray Jay, lol. Other than that - oh, and one Hawk perched high up on a power pole along a busy road - I saw no wildlife at all. All these Great Grays (and Northern Hawk Owls) gave a lot of people much enjoyment back then. We miss them. Have added a previously posted image of this owl, taken the same morning, in a comment box below. "In some areas it is also called Phantom of the north, Cinereous Owl, Spectral Owl, Lapland Owl, Spruce Owl, Bearded Owl, and Sooty Owl." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/id

This beautiful Great Gray Owl was busy hunting, but every once in a while would give a quick glance in my direction. Seen NW of Calgary, on 28 March 2013. (No cropping, but 48x zoom.)

This photo was taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary, shortly after the sun had risen and when quite a lot of the snow had melted. Today, 14 April 2013, it looks like we are in the middle of winter, once again. It snowed all day yesterday and the snow is falling steadily this morning. My fence is topped with maybe 5" of snow so far. More snow expected tomorrow and then next week, the rain arrives, lol! This Great Gray Owl was the first of four that I was lucky enough to see that morning, two closely and two far more distant.

Doesn't look like a happy Great Gray Owl, but I guess this is the way they usually look, lol! Another shot from the really good owling day that I had on 28 March 2013. I haven't been NW of Calgary for a while now, as the gravel roads will be in bad shape, with the melting snow, I would imagine. It's good, anyway, to give the owls a break from people, to let them have some peace and quiet.

This was the first Great Gray Owl that I came across five days ago, on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary. Caught it in beautiful light, which was a real treat. After much watching and listening, this beautiful owl finally decided to "go for it", plunging into the snow-covered ground closer than I was expecting. I don't think it was successful, though. I was very lucky that day, seeing another close owl, and then, later, two much more distant owls. I was NW of Calgary again yesterday, but saw just one very distant Great Gray Owl, hunting in an enormous meadow. Not the best for photos, but it was interesting to watch several attempts made for rodents. "In some areas it is also called Phantom of the north, Cinereous Owl, Spectral Owl, Lapland Owl, Spruce Owl, Bearded Owl, and Sooty Owl." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/id We had snow overnight, but it has mostly disappeared already, I'm happy to say. However, there is a Storm Watch in effect. Up to 15 cm of snow forecast for Edmonton, I see. Looks like we are going to escape this here in Calgary.