Winter hung on for another week with a couple mornings below zero and fresh snow three mornings just to show us who’s running the show. There may be some sap in the buckets as the temperatures at the end of the week did stay above freezing for most of the day.
I made a couple more runs down to Fairfield to see the snowy owls.
On Wednesday Carolyn Belknap and I went down for the afternoon. She had a new camera body that she wanted to try out.
It took us a while before we found the first owl sitting in a field. The wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour and this bird didn’t want to move.
While Carolyn was trying to get her camera to perform it flew further out in the field and finally further away on to a tree branch.
The wind wasn’t helping as it was moving the car because it was so gusty.
We met another couple who had seen two other owls so we went to check them out to see if they were closer to the road. The next one was way out in a field so we just counted that one.
Then we found one right on a pole beside highway. It flew over into the wind farm and we went down a side road and got fairly close for a few shots.
It flew back to the roadside pole for a few more shots then left for places unknown. It was getting late and they were now on the hunt as were we.
We found one in a field not far from the highway and got some nice shots. It flew to a roadside pole for a few more shots then it went back to the field where it hovered just like kestrel on the hunt; but we were to far away to get pictures of that.
It hit the field again like it had caught something but we didn’t get there before it was down the hatch. It flew back to its pole perch where we left it in the failing sunlight.
Deer were all over the place on the way home as we saw 40 or more, but luckily none on the hood.
On Saturday they were predicting rain or snow late in the day. It was cloudy all day so I figured if the owls were still around they would be up and hunting.
Jennifer Hayes and her daughter Claire wanted to see one so we took another trip south.
We checked all the old spots and these birds seemed to have moved or gone north already.
Then about 4 p.m. we saw a snowy fly up as we were driving down the road. It landed on the same pole that it had been on Wednesday.
It was very photogenic as Claire and Jennifer got lots of shots.
We traveled around the block and saw a couple rough legged hawks and a kestrel. We went back to where the owl was but it had done a disappearing act.
We got out on Route 29 headed back toward Middleville and the owls were coming out of the woodwork.
On a little side road we saw a male sitting on pole right overhead. When it flew we saw another one flying in a distant field so almost got two in one shot.
As we came out that side road Jennifer spotted one sitting on a round bale in the field on the opposite side of the highway.
Claire and I got a couple shots of this one and few more of the one that just flew to another pole not far away.
We just got through Fairfield when Claire yelled, “Stop, there’s one on the roof of that garage!”
Sure enough there was another male sitting on somebody’s garage roof not far from the highway. Claire got some nice shots of what we called her owl.
So there were five different owls in about one hour once they got on the move to hunt.
We headed north about the time the rain started. Jennifer dodged a few deer on the way home as they looked for a bare spot to eat from.
In the past I have gotten shots of my daffodils or crocus before going south, but not this year. I’m sure they are growing under the two feet of snow that covers them.
Some of my friends in Saratoga County said that some early flowers were showing their colors down that way.
There is a little difference in elevation and the amount of snow on the ground there.
Ours will come all in good time and we will get to enjoy them later this year.
Maybe there will be less ticks and other invasives with this long cold winter, but that’s another story. See ya.