Off to see the snowy owls again

I had a free day and decided to go back to the Cape to see the owls. These photos are of a female, juvenile snowy owl. The owl was on the bay side sitting on an osprey nest quite a distance out in the water/marshy area. I was lucky enough to capture the owl with my camera as it took off from the nest. So pretty in flight. I have seen the owls flying a few times, but was never lucky enough to get a photo.

The owl pictures below were sent to me from another lady that was standing next to me at the beach. I shared some of my photos with her of shots of the owls that she didn't have.
                                        
                         
                                       
                                                   
                                           

At the beach it was sunny and cold, but driving home I ran into heavy snow squalls and the visibility was very poor. The snow didn't last long thank goodness, but more snow is predicted for the weekend and Monday.

As I was almost ready to pull into our driveway I saw a male bluebird sitting on the telephone wire. I am hoping that it will find a mate and use one of the bluebird boxes I have around the yard. They have been around before, but unfortunately never nested.

Today at my friends house near her foundation peeking thru the snow crocus are blooming.

Elaine

Another trip to the Cape..More snowy owl photos

                                                  
                                                             juvenile male snowy owl 2.25.2014

                                                                     

juvenile female snowy taken just before she took off and landed on a post

          Tomorrow we are suppose to get a little more snow, and I have a doctors appointment, so I decided today would be a good day to take a drive to the Cape and see if the snowy owls were still at the beach. I called my friend, Shirley to see if she wanted to take a ride, because she had never seen snowy owls before. Shirley wanted to go, I picked her up and off we went.                                                
Again, the wind was howling off of the water and it was freezing cold..temps in the low 20's. I wish I had a snow mobile suit to wear to stay warm when I go take photos of the owls.

                                   
unfortunately this photo is dark as I had to face the sun. I'm glad I clicked 2 quick photos, because before I could get in a better position to take the photo of this female juvenile (much darker in color) Before I could get a good photo 2 woman ran up close to the owl talking real loud and scared it off. I was so disappointed that I didn't get better photos while it sat on the post. I don't know what those 2 women were thinking.

While at the beach taking photo's I spoke with a man and a woman who have been going to the beach everyday for over a month to take photos of the owls. The man had a really expensive digital camera with a large zoom lens, and he had some awesome photos. One of a crow swooping down at an owl with its feet extended over the owl as the owl ducked, another of an owl flying with a rabbit in it's talons, another with a seagull, and another of a duck. I guess the owls are eating well at the beach, and here I thought they were eating mice. (LOL) 

I don't know how much longer these beautiful birds will stay in the area, but I am so glad that I got to see them several times. Hopefully, I can see them a few more times before they leave the area and head back to the tundra.

I called my cousin, Cheryl and she met Shirley and I at the beach. After watching the owls for awhile we went out for lunch. All in all it was a lovely day.

I hope you enjoy the owl photos as much as I enjoyed watching them and taking their photos.
 Elaine

Bluebird sighting

I took my Dad for blood work this morning and then to run errands. I also went to the garage to get my new inspection sticker that was due this month.  Then I took my Dad to the bog to watch the guys ice sanding. As we were leaving the bog we saw 4 bluebirds flitting back and forth from some shrubs, a holly tree, 2 big pine trees and the ground. I took photos from inside the car through the windshield facing the sun. Unfortunately the birds were quite some distance away, but I did get a few pictures. I could have sat and watched the bluebirds for hours. While at the bog we also saw a mockingbird. I can't wait for spring.

Even though the ice is melting they are still able to ice sand using a wide tracked Morooka sanding vehicle that doesn't hurt the cranberry vines. 

                        Elaine

Update..2/16/14 Owl Earring Giveaway winners.

       2/16/2014      If I don't hear back from Karin I am going to pull another name for the 2nd pair of owl earrings. Karin...please contact me.                                                

I put all the names who left comments for my owl earrings give away into a basket and drew out 2 names.

The first name that was pulled was Barbara. Barbara..you have 1st. choice of color..the blue or yellow owl earrings.

The 2nd name pulled was..Karin.

Could you both please email me your mailing addresses so I can get the earrings out in the mail to you. EAkers@aol.com
Thanks to all that entered.
Elaine

More Snowy Owls photos and a Hawk

this photo was taken of one of the owls that was on the  bay side at the beach, and the sun wasn't a factor..it was just far too far away to get a better photo

unfortunately..the owl had its back towards me...I couldn't tell whether it was facing away or towards me due to the glare.

Yesterday, (Saturday 2.8.2014) was a cold, but sunny day and I felt like getting out. I called my friend, Betty Ann and asked if she wanted to take a ride to the Cape. I wanted to go back to see if the snowy owls were at the beach and Betty Ann had never seen a snowy owl. So, off we went.

We arrived at the beach around noon and we were told that the 3 owls were there. 2 were on the bay side and one was on the ocean side. We spotted the owls right away. I took several photos, but the birds were further away in the dunes and marsh this time to get good photos with my small camera. Also, with the sun being so bright it glared off the snow and the camera was having a hard time focusing.

At the beach it was very sunny, but with the wind blowing off the ocean it was also very cold. The owls looked so much bigger this time as they weren't all hunkered down in the dunes.

 My small, Canon SX150IS point and shoot zoom camera doesn't have a view finder just the screen. Facing the sun the screen just looks dark so it is difficult to see if you are focusing on the object you are trying to get a photo of.  My next camera will definately have a view finder so I can see what I want to get a photo of.
Click on the photos to enlarge and the owls show up a little clearer. The owl photo's below were on the ocean side..to get the photos..I had to face into the sun.





                     

                                    












The owl that I got the most photos of was on the oceanside. Betty Ann and I got to see him take off and fly across the dunes, over the roadway to the bay side. The owl was beautiful in flight. Sure wish I could have captured that in a video.

When we were leaving the beach area we noticed a large hawk sitting on the top of a telephone pole.  The bird was beautiful just sitting there surveying the area. After a while it dive bombed off the pole onto the ground near some low bushes, flew up and sat on a telephone wire briefly and took off over the marsh. I still haven't figured out what species of hawk this is yet, as it doesn't look like any in my bird book. Anyone know? The hawks feathers were all ruffled from the wind.

After leaving the beach we road down Rte. 28 for awhile and then crossed over to Rte. 6A where we stopped at a few thrift stores...we didn't find anything this trip.

While driving on 6A in Brewster we stopped at the Brewster Country Store to poke around. This country store is a fun place to stop and browse. I took a few photos of icicles outside the store.
                                                      
                                                  icicles on vines on the side of the store

                                                                               icicles on an iron fence

In Wareham we stopped at the Salvation Army Store as the store was having a 50% off everything in the store sale, but I didn't find anything.

All in all...Betty Ann and I had a lovely day. We both love going taking a ride to the Cape.

I hope you have been enjoying your weekend.
Elaine

p.s..if you haven't visited my blog in awhile, I have more snowy owl photos from January in another blog posting.