We've been having quite the irruptive year for Snowy Owls here on the east coast, and a bunch here in Maine. After going into a food coma yesterday and missing out on my Thanksgiving Day birding, AB and I went down to the shore near the Biddeford Pool (about an hour away) to look for a Snowy that had been seen there last week.
We went out to the shoreline at the end of Orcutt Road:
It wasn't anywhere this green out there (image is a screen capture of Google Maps). You see the little island there in the right corner, the one on the left? That was easily visible from Ocean Avenue, where I parked. I walked a little path through the brush to the rocks, my eyes fixed on a white blob on the rock.
Once I got to the rocks, I set up my little scope, focused, and BAM:
I know this is an awful photo, but that white shape on the rocks is a SNOWY OWL! Bird number 415!
We watched him for a while, and we were joined by others looking for the same owl. After seeing some Ruddy Turnstones (beautiful!), Common Eiders, a Horned Grebe, Common and Red-breasted Mergansers, and a lone female Harlequin Duck, we headed home.
Sweet success!
4 comments:
None down here yet, but they will come ... They are a nice looking bird. I hope you get a good closeup look sometime.
Thanks, Rabbits' Guy. I'm hoping I can see one up close. I just checked my local birding listserv and found out that people saw FIVE of them yesterday out where we were! And there are many more in the area! I'm not going to be able to drive for the next month or so; I'll be scouring the trees for Snowy Owls!
Congratulations! I was able to see one too but my photo was further away and not as good as yours.At least your owl stands out and looks in focus!
They are so gorgeous. During an irruption here in MN. several year ago I found an injured one and took it to the Raptor Center at the U. Malnourished they were unable to save it...:(
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