Snowing at Boundary Bay-Owls that is

[Retief]

Jim Thiel, Louie Champan and I took advantage of a sunny day yesterday to head to Boundary Bay, BC Canada to photograph Snow Owls. The number of owls, reported to be around 2 dozen, were well outnumberd by the photographers.

What a great day overall, even though I almost got stuck in your Great Canadian Mud.

To start, I just want to show you all an example of a REAL Wing Clip, this is "as-is" nothing cropped anywhere, the result of "shooting through" a nice close fly by:

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Most of these are full frame, one has a bit of "empty" taken off the bottom, another from the right side. Some nice close fly-by's:

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Take-Off, this was cropped about 20%:

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The next two were cropped about 30%. These are an example of getting lucky when someone who is not careful flushes an owl.

Landing Flaps Down:

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Landing Gear Deployed:

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And I still have more to go. Needless to say, for me this was a great trip. I'm anxiously awaiting Jim's pictures as well as Louie's. As we were together I saw an Owl flying directly toward us and let everyone know. I could not get a shot as everyone was in my way, but I think Jim got that one head-on, should be great I think.

 

[allmodcons]

Great series, Bill. What an exciting day for you guys. I would love to see ONE of these owls in the wild, let alone dozens...and so close you are clipping wings in FF! Wow!

-Bill

 

[Louis Champan]

That was a terrifi day for sure, friends and plenty of owls. Your images are just superb Bill, I don't know when we have ever gotten fly bys this close with the sun at our backs, Great shots. I'm hoping some of mine come out as good.

 

[james thiel]

Bill this had to be one of the best outings I have ever had. Great subjects, weather and friends. Your images are super and I am sure you will be hanging several on your gallery wall. You really nailed that last landing shot. You sure were in the right place for that one. I think most of the others I recognize. We had our share of opportunities thats for sure.

 

[cre8foru]

Im jealous now. These are great photos of one of my favorite subjects.

 

[Allan]

Wow. I log in to post the snowy owl I took. I walked 35 minutes from my car to get to the one owl. I thought that was pretty good. 2 dozen, amazing.
Like your shots too especially the flight shots.

 

[Butlerkid]

All nice, but Flaps Down is a great wall hanger!

 

[Photomelodist]

Wow, another great set. I think 5, 7, & 8 are my favorites. But they are all really nice.

 

[mood]

All nice, but Flaps Down is a great wall hanger!

+1

gorgeous shot
Ive only seen one GHO locally, never seen a snowy in the wild....

 

[sla12]

Now that was a fun trip and very successful. Great shots!

 

[nuclearjock]

Speechless is all I can say Bill. My wife and I are avid birders in the midwest and have never even seen a snowy owl let alone photograph one. Lots of GHO's though. Beautiful set.

 

[andreasb]

You dont need to stack TC's when they are that close Bill

What a great series! The two last landing shots are my favorites!

 

[alexf]

Very nice!

 

[Randy]

beauties Bill....what i wouldn't give for an opp to shoot these little guts

 

[Retief]

I probably should not post this here, but just because you are a small collection of friends, I'll be a REALLY nice guy. Here is a Google Map of the Snowy Owl Locations for the 2011 Irruption. For those of you interested, check locations in or near your state.

Great series, Bill. What an exciting day for you guys. I would love to see ONE of these owls in the wild, let alone dozens...and so close you are clipping wings in FF! Wow!

-Bill

Thanks. Take a close look at the map link, I see some not far from you.

Im jealous now. These are great photos of one of my favorite subjects.

Thanks. You, unfortunately, need to do more traveling :biggrin:

Wow. I log in to post the snowy owl I took. I walked 35 minutes from my car to get to the one owl. I thought that was pretty good. 2 dozen, amazing.
Like your shots too especially the flight shots.

Thanks, Allan. While there are a lot of owls at this location, we sure did our share of walking. We are just really lucky to have a couple of very good locations with good numbers of owls around.

All nice, but Flaps Down is a great wall hanger!

Thanks a bunch. I have a funny feeling that both of the landing shots will end up being printed.

Wow, another great set. I think 5, 7, & 8 are my favorites. But they are all really nice.

Thanks. I can sure see why you would pick those!

+1

gorgeous shot
Ive only seen one GHO locally, never seen a snowy in the wild....

Thanks. Take a look at the map, looks like they should be some good viewing not too awfully far from you.

Now that was a fun trip and very successful. Great shots!

Thanks. "fun and successful" are gross understatements :biggrin:

Speechless is all I can say Bill. My wife and I are avid birders in the midwest and have never even seen a snowy owl let alone photograph one. Lots of GHO's though. Beautiful set.

Thanks. Looking at the map you should have a fair number of locations almost within spittin' distance. Git your Boots a walkin'!

You dont need to stack TC's when they are that close Bill

What a great series! The two last landing shots are my favorites!

Thanks, Andreas. You know it is good day when you can't focus because they are TOO close!

Very nice!

Thanks, Alex.

beauties Bill....what i wouldn't give for an opp to shoot these little guts

Thanks, Randy. If you can get to the Farnes, you ought to be able to get to these :biggrin:

 

[mood]

Bill

what is this "map" you refer to...?

 

[Retief]

Bill

what is this "map" you refer to...?

The link to the map is in the post just above yours, I'll repeat it here as well:

Google Map Link for Snowy Owl 2011 Irruption

Just click on this link, each pin is the location of Snowy Owls reported this year. You can drill down into the map by clicking on the various pins in your area, or wherever you are willing to drive, fly, walk, run, etc :biggrin: