Great Gray Owl Sighting

We were on our way to see if we could find some snowy owls on Wolfe Isl. Now, it was a two-purpose trip, as I have family friends in Kingston. Our plan was to go owl hunting and then pop in to visit them. We booked a hotel room on points, and that was a lovely plan. I have lots of friends languishing on beaches, or living in their summer homes in Florida, or traveling around the world. This was a modest trip to break up the winter.

I will tell you that we didn't find a single snowy owl on the island, which is highly unusual. Thankfully, I spotted this owl on the highway, on our route.

It was not so much a fluke, as me realizing that there was an anomaly. I grabbed a photo from the dashcam, to show you what I saw first. Can you see it?! It was on the fourth post.




Of course, "I think I saw an owl. Can we turn around?!" Hubby did, of course!
I snapped the next photo through the window as we passed to turn around. It pretty much ignored us. The camouflage is amazing. Isn't it perfect?



By now, another car, similarly driving west, saw the bird. The owl flew across the highway, from the north to the south side. I saw it fly, but didn't see where it went. Hubby did! I've trained him well. It was, by now, sitting on a fence post. On a gray day, it was a difficult photo.
The other car had turned around to view it from the south side. It didn't bother the owl.


It is a difficult photo, since there is bright white behind the dark feathers!


Of course, I took a video of it. First, from the car, and then I got out and took some video from behind the car. It is interesting seeing its behaviour.
Gray Owl from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The range of this magnificent bird, from All About Birds, is interesting. They mostly eat mice. For such a large bird, is weighs little, as it is mostly feathers! They are tall birds, with smaller feet than similarly-sized birds (snowy, for example).