Birds in winter scenes

American Robin in a frost covered crab apple tree.

Northern Hawk Owl a top a frosted Black Spruce tree.

A Black-billed Magpie was perched a top a Birch tree covered in hoar frost near the Owl.

Close up of an American Robin on a frost coverd branch.

The Crab Apples are the last fruit the wintering birds feed on. Food is getting scarce, Robins are starting to eat the apples.

Nice ones Gary!

Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula)
Anchorage, Alaska 1/21/2012

This message was edited Jan 22, 2012 8:29 AM

Anchorage, Alaska 1/21/2012
Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula)


This message was edited Jan 22, 2012 8:29 AM

Great Gray Owl (Strix nebuosa)
Anchorage, Alaska 1/21/2012

This message was edited Jan 22, 2012 8:30 AM

Anchorage, Alaska 1/21/2012
Great Gray Owl (Strix nebuosa)


This message was edited Jan 22, 2012 8:30 AM

Beautiful shots Gary!

Great pictures Gary, but you need to set your calendar to 2012 (smile)

Yep, these are all on the first day of the 21st month of 2011 . . . when's that?!

Those owls are stunners!

Resin

Such amazing bird pics Gary. Love the frosted trees, it a beautiful background for your subjects.

The snow and the birds-what more could you ask for? Such a perfect spot to enjoy life. Beautiful photos Gary. I can't get enough of the owls and each one is so beautiful.

Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aeglius acadicus)
Photgraphed @ Anchorage, AK 1/27/2012. (USA date system for Resin)
A big Thank You to Kathy Prentki for posting on AKBird there was a Northern Saw-whet Owl perched out side her kitchen window. Her gracious offer to: “… share our kitchen window if you need an owl” was irresistible

duc,
The beauty comes at a price. Keep in mind the temperature is near 0 F. (-17C) and there have been a lot more dark stormy days, than cold clear sunny days. Plus a record snow fall in excess of 90 inches. I tried to wall off the road one day last week to get closer to an owl, but sunk below my crotch. I couldn't walk, the snow was just too soft & deep.

Super shots of the Owls Gary!!!

Thanks Burd.

Yesterday we drove out behind the airport twice looking for the Great Gray Owl. We only found it the first time around 1 pm. Ice fog clouds kept drifting through the area making it too dark for good photos. The fog is visible in this shot.

This picture was taken between clouds and is a little cleared. The Owl is the dark spot near the center. It had just flown from the airport fence, and pounced into the snow after a vole. We watched it try a half dozen times, never succeed while we were watching.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2012 9:35 PM

Today was a beautiful clear, but cold day. The first time we looked for the Owl around noon, no luck, no bird. The second try around 3:30 pm, it was sitting in a tree across the road from the two pictures above. The tree was on the edge of the road, however, from the lighted side there were so many branches the owl was obscured. This is the best of the back lit shots. There are lots of vole tracks on top of the snow - the owls should be around for a while.

Beautiful!

Amazing shots, Gary.

Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)
Photographed @ Anchorage, Alaska, Jan. 28, 2012.

About 3 pm today we parked in the area where the Great Gray Owl as been seen recently, behind International airport. Waiting for the Great Gray to show, we were very surprised when a small little Boreal Owl landed near the truck. The Boreal Owl is a life list for me, a rare bird I never expecting I would ever see. It was very tame, and allowed me to approach close without showing any concern. Actually, more like it was laughing at me trying to avoid falling in the deep snow. I was sinking in well above my knees, and nearly fell several times. I can hardly believe the extraordinary luck I have been having seeing and photographing owls recently.

Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)
Photographed @ Anchorage, Alaska, Jan. 28, 2012.

This little fellow was so tame, it let me move around to the other side of the tree, for a blue sky background. I was within ten feet of the Owl.

Challenge: Who can add the first Snowy Owl to this thread. I read there are a lot of Snowy Owls in the lower 48 this winter. I have never seen a wild Snowy Owl.

This message was edited Jan 28, 2012 10:05 PM

Wow! That's fantastic.

Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)
Photographed @ Anchorage, Alaska, Jan. 28, 2012

I've been playing with some of todays pictures. I really like the detail in this close up, cropped out of an original.

Wow Gary, what an amazing Owls season for you!!!! I`ve never seen an owl yet. I keep searching for some, when I go for drives, out . on country roads.

Burn, the following quote from todays AKBird group shows just how amazing the Owls are this season.

This is the Boreal Owl having it's picture taken in the above shot. I had just taken this shot, walked a short distance, turned back to take the above shot, of the next set of bird watchers.

This message was edited Jan 29, 2012 9:41 PM

Turning to look west along the airport fence. The people in this picture are watching a Great Gray Owl. A clear, sunny, very cold day, below 0 F.

When I walked up the trail to where the two people were in the above picture, found this Great Gray Owl sleeping, in the sun. The Owl kept turning it's head, but never opened it's eyes far enough to show yellow. My toes were too cold to go any farther, so I started back. There was a steady stream of Owl watchers along the path through the snow.

On my way back to the truck, I took a few more pictures of the Boreal Owl.
I had never seen one before yesterday. It all seems a bit surreal having so many owls at the same time.

Great Gray Owl (Strix nebuosa)
Anchorage, AK Feb. 14, 2012

Anchorage, AK Feb. 14, 2012
Great Gray Owl (Strix nebuosa)

Anchorage, AK Feb. 14, 2012
Great Gray Owl (Strix nebuosa)