Here’s one for Snowy Owl Sunday and an image I haven’t shared before.
Taken late last year out on the northeastern plains of Colorado. At that time, a few of these had been spotted out there and one report had me hopping in my truck and high-tailing it two hours away on a moment’s notice.
It was perched way out in a field on a piece of irrigation equipment, too far away to get a decent view. Fortunately, the land owner happened to drive by and ask what I was looking at and once he knew, gave me permission to enter his property. That allowed me to get close enough to get some cool shots and this owl was completely comfortable with my presence, totally ignoring me. In fact, it slept the entire time with me only getting one or two captures of it with its eyes open.
After enjoying some time with this Arctic visitor, I let it be, right where I had found it and me going away thankful for the opportunity.
Note… I know there can be some controversy over approaching these types of creatures and the risk of stressing them. However, again, it was totally relaxed while I was there, only opening its eyes a couple of times, otherwise continuing to sleep and I made sure not to linger. Further, this image is taken at a very safe distance with the equivalent of a 960mm lens and the final image is cropped quite a bit. I am always extremely cautious about approaching wildlife and would never do so if I felt the animal was upset by my presence.
I do have this image available here if you are interested.
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