22 February 2015

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl on a large snowy branch
The F900 does its valiant best, but there's purple fringing.  (Backlight in a world of low cloud and snow.  Of course there was purple fringing.)  100% crop; owl was close but not that close.

There were five; got excellent in-flight and perched views, from a variety of angles.

So yay!, lifer, and yay! OFO walk.

(Snow buntings.  Diverse colour morphs of Rough-legged Hawk.  Mergansers. (Mergansers?) Mockingbirds.  Goldfinches, tree sparrows, kestrels, downy woodpecker, nuthatches, bluejay, crows, rusty blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds, red-tailed hawk, cowbirds, and one cold-looking starling.  Cardinals.  Other people saw tufted titmice.  One red-bellied woodpecker with a crest made out of lambent fire.)

2 comments:

Mark Z said...

A just reward for the virtuous. The weather has not been particularly encouraging for going outside lately.

Graydon said...

While I certainly agree in the general case, that particular day wasn't too bad.

This coming Sunday (TOC "walk" from West Toronto to Burlington) may be different; the forecast hasn't stabilized yet. :)