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nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:30:13 +0000

This was a far-away shot and therefore is very heavily cropped! However, I am SO thrilled to have finally seen a Northern Hawk Owl and, as an added bonus, to get a few photos of it. Nothing great or spectacular, but I'm still on cloud nine : ) We drove northwest of the city and spent the day driving around the back roads hoping to see a Great Gray Owl and maybe even a little Northern Hawk Owl. Not many birds of any kind to be seen but, right at the end, we found this little beauty. It was perched on a very distant tree in a farmer's field. A few of us plodded through snow near the fence line and managed to get some shots. (The snow had quite a thick crust on top, so every step or two, you broke through the crust and plunged into deep snow - roll on spring!). It was extremely windy and chilly - hard to hold the camera - which is why the owl is all puffed up. Then, suddenly, it flew and landed on a fence post by the road where the cars were parked, just 10' from the rest of our group! I would have been able to get the most amazing close-ups, sigh ... These owls are rare to uncommon year-round in Alberta, and they are one of the most sought-after birds in Alberta.

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nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:57:14 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Hope you aren't getting too fed up of my Bald Eagle shots, LOL! The close photos are always taken at the Zoo (probably a good thing that I don't get THAT close to one in the wild, anyway : )). The angles, colours (especially of the background) always seem to come out differently - which leads to the temptation to upload, LOL. This particular bird was all fluffed up and seemed to be shivering. I've seen this happen before on another occasion. I wonder if this is "normal" behaviour and, if so, what is the reason?

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#1 on my Wish List

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