More Snowy Owls - Part II

Wildlife photographers often hope for a number of things: there's the obvious, like good light, good fortune, and good company; and the not-so-obvious, like having a Tim Horton's just a few kilometers away from the scene of the owls and getting good advice from the locals.

Long before I had even arrived in Vancouver, as-yet-unmet acquaintances like Jamie Douglas and Tony Dathan were filling my ears with places to go (thanks guys!).  And better still, a large part of the appeal in heading to Vancouver to photograph the snowy owl irruption was the knowledge that I'd get to photograph snowies with some of 'the old gang', friends from Vancouver that I've been photographing with for years that I have a tremendous amount of respect for: David Wingate, Roberta Olenick, and two of my oldest pals (sorry guys, I had to throw in at least one joke about your ages!), Murray O'Neill and John Lowman.

Together, these four helped me have some of the most fun I've experienced with bird photography in years.  I showed you a few of the efforts from the first five days in yesterday's post, so today I finish off by showing off some of my favourite images from the final two days I spent in Vancouver after the sun finally broke through and washed the bay's beaches with some glorious light, just enough good fortune, and some great, great company.

Note once again that you can view even more images on my Facebook fan page, and you don't have to be a member to do so!

A snowy soaks in the sunshine with the Vancouver skyline and the Coast Mountains in the distant background.


A snowy owl flies by along the wetland at high tide.

The final few days provided several amazing short-eared owl encounters.

A shortie flies by me at close range while hunting over the fields opposite the bay.

A short-eared owl in flight, intent on scouring the ground for voles.

One of my favourite flight shots from the week.

And my personal favourite: a snowy owl in flight across the grassy meadows.

Thanks for looking everyone, Happy Shooting!

John

Labels: , , , ,