What a morning.

Whiter in Large.

I had an errand to run this morning and decided to drive to one of the snowy owls have been spotted areas.  I've tried this one a few times and come up empty every time.  (Though, many photographer friends come up with wonderful shots nearly every time they go.)  It's getting very late in the year to expect to see one, but with the recent winter storm I decided it was worth the trip.  

I drove at a crawl, up and down the back roads and saw nothing.  On my way out of the area, this gorgeous boy popped up out of the snow bank and flew in front of my car!  I never would have seen him, he blends in so well with the chunky plowed snow.  He landed nearby and I got the above shot, but he disappeared like magic as I got out of the car.  I couldn't see him anywhere.   Then I spotted seagulls dive bombing something.  You guessed it... they had an issue with their raptor competition.  The owl moved two more times, but I was able to follow and even get out of the car for a few shots.  Then he went *poof* again, flying low behind a snowbank.  He's pretty tricky and well camouflaged!

I spent a few more minutes driving around trying to locate him again.  No luck, so I stopped, got out and watched a hawk for a bit.  Well the hawk was too far... but an EAGLE came soaring over him and obliged me with a flyover!

What a morning.