Spread Your Wings

I never take Snowy Owls for granted. 

The snowy owls will be migrating to the Arctic soon. Yesterday was a lovely warm sunny spring day, finally! We took a ride and found lots of migrating birds but the snowy visitors are still with us, but not for long. 

It is tricky to get good images of these big birds in flight. Conditions need to be just so and camera settings and skills need to be right on. Bill took these pictures. Although I have enjoyed photography since childhood, Bill picked it up when we were dating. I love that we enjoy doing the photography thing together. Some of our best days are spent in the car and on the trail looking for interesting things to photograph. 

I love that this owl never took his eyes off of the photographer as he did a fly by. It's a weird and amazing feeling to make eye contact with such a beautiful and wild animal. I have read that the strength of an owls claws/talons is equal to the bite of a German Shepherd dog. Imagine...

This snowy owl ended up landing on the top of a farmers silo. He looks pretty pleased with himself eh. I wonder if the fly by was intended to intimate, show off, or was he just as curious of us as we are of them. I do believe these Arctic birds are fascinated by us. Their normal home is isolated and they don't often come into contact with humans. 

They will be heading home soon. The Sandhill Cranes, Canadian Geese, Hawks, Ravens and even the Crows are crowding them right now. So Bon Voyage our Snowy friends, safe travels....