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.