Friday, February 28, 2014

Northern Potoo

Ray and I are currently in Mexico.  Looking for birds.  One place in Mexico is really renowned for being a birder's dream and that is where we have started our trip.  San Blas, Nayarit.  I will do a full trip report on it when we get home to give people the information I found so difficult to find when planning this trip, but today I am just sharing one bird.  The Northern Potoo.

This is the bird in the daytime. It is the king of camouflage.

And this is a Northern Potoo a couple hours later, full darkness, and no, my flash is not that strong. The boatman had a spotlight. Not sure how the Potoo liked it, but it allowed me to take a photo (and see a bird) that I couldn't have done any other way.
Oh, right. The top photo is its back.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Snowy Owl

Among all the bird photos I've taken in the last eight years (since I've had a digital camera) there has been one notable absence. I did not have a single photo of a Snowy Owl. Not even a bad one.  This year I decided to remedy that situation. It has not been as easy as I thought.  Once I started carrying my camera every where I went, the Snowy Owls stopped sitting on the poles near our farm.  Or they sat there when a vehicle was on my bumper and stopping in a hurry was not recommended. Or when I was hurrying to work and had no time to stop. Or, oh no, did it really happen?  When I had left the camera by the door in the house.

Yesterday, however, just north of Birsay, I spied an owl. It's white shape was apparent on the top of a utility pole from some distance so I had time to slow down and pull over. I took one quick shot through the windshield, then got out and snapped two more before it decided to leave. 




Now, of course, I have a new goal.  To get a better photo of a Snowy Owl.