Boreal Owl

Today I took my usual lunch and made my way down to one of my favorite birding spots. It's been snowy the last few days so I wasn't expecting much activity besides the usual Chickadees. Upon arrival, I immediately heard a Steller's Jay making a loud ruckus along with some Magpie's. Thinking they were fighting amongst themselves, I went to investigate and see if I could get some good shots. The Steller's jay was in a large spruce tree located in a woodsy area in the middle
of a loop in the trail. I made my way closer to see what the fuss was all about and see if he would come out in the open. As I got closer to the spruce tree, I noticed a lump of something sitting on a branch about 7 feet up. As I got closer and closer, I started thinking it might be an owl. Surely not though I thought. Sure enough, as I made my way up to the tree, there was a small brown owl sitting on a large branch. Although I had never seen one, I thought it might be a Boreal or a Pygmy Owl. I looked it up on my phone and discovered it was a Boreal Owl. He looked like he was trying to catch some Z's but was being pestered by a variety of other birds in the area. I was able to get quite a few different shots of him as he sat there silent and still on his perch. After editing the photos later, I noticed that he had a rodent underneath him that he must have just caught. What a neat find! I was absolutely thrilled to see such a rare, beautiful bird out on my birding walks. I have actually seen quite a few rare birds in this particular area. And it's fairly close to my office, so I don't have to go to far. I wanted to leave the little owl alone to his lunch so after taking some good shots, I let him be. In that same area though were some male and female Downy Woodpeckers which posed for me as well. It was a good day of birding after all!

A few days ago, I went to head out of my lunch birding adventures and heard some Bohemian Waxwings near by. I thought they were maybe coming over to finish off the crabapples in the parking lot across the street where I had seem some last week. Sure enough, I drove my car over and there were about 100 of them covering the crab apple trees, chowing down. I pulled up right near the trees, rolled down my window, and started shooting. I spent a good 45 minutes there taking shots from every angle and direction I could, and the birds cooperated the whole time. Just when it was time for me to head back to work, the birds all took off, leaving little fruit left. I was delighted to get the opportunity to spend my lunch shooting them eat their lunch.

That's all for now, until next time, keep your eyes to the trees and your binoculars handy.