Looking out the narrow peninsula of Plymouth's Long Beach, I know he is there. A Snowy Owl. Somewhere. Hiding in plain sight. With the sky becoming increasingly overcast and sunset approaching, he will be more difficult to see - the brilliant whiteness of his feathers won't stand out so strongly.
On the other hand, whether I see the snowy or not is secondary to spending some quality time out in nature with my family on this unseasonably comfortable winter day.
If I don't get to see a snowy today, at least the dramatic sky creates opportunity for good high contrast black and white images which I always like.
I know that the snowy tends to perch along the tops of the small dunes watching for food or foes. Scanning the dune tops I saw him........ standing elegantly in shadow against the bold sky.
Whoops, my bad - you astute readers can plainly see that this bird is a gull not a snowy. Sorry, my anticipation got the better of me. So I turned my head and scanned the shadows some more......
And there he was. Too far away for my point-and-shoot camera and also standing in a dark shadow. But sometimes, the photography gods smile upon my world.......
For then the clouds opened and magically, here was the snowy, sitting atop the little rise, spotlighted majestically in the bright sunshine against the darkening sky. Yep, this is a time when a point-and-shoot camera is not an advantage.
I am a lucky man to have a son who is both an ornithologist and an owner of a high quality 500mm lens. These last two images are his and used by permission. (You can see more of his awesome bird images from around the world at this link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/uropsalis/ )
After posing for a few seconds, off he flew. And that, as they say, was that. What a day!
Postscript: Here is a link to a snowy that did a traffic camera fly-by just yesterday in Toronto.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/spectacular-snowy-owl-fly-by-captured-on-traffic-camera/
