Northern Hawk Owl

 We may have gone looking for Ptarmigan, but we were really hoping to see something else.  Mostly we hoped for an owl.

So we drove hundreds of kilometres staring at the trees bordering the highway as we drove north, and then again south.

Our guide suggested we look at the tops of the trees to find Hawk Owls, the middle of the trees to find  Great Grey Owls and lower down, as we got closer to our destination, for the Ptarmigan. 

None of these showed up along the highways on the way north, but our guide caught this on the way back south.

This was rather amazing because most of the evergreens have an owl-shaped bunch of needles at the top.

We stopped and watched and photographed as the Northern Hawk Owl went from that tree to this tree where we could never have seen it from the highway at a hundred kmh.

But the photos were cropped, and the owls appeared.

And then it flew to another tree

Next time, perhaps the Northern Hawk Owl will be a little closer.

And that is 2023 Lifer Number Three.

Willow Ptarmigan: the perfect winter bird

 I've wanted to see a Ptarmigan for a long time. 

 This week we drove about 800 kilometres north and east just to see The Bird. And we did.

Our first glimpse was 

a glimpse.

But behind this ridge of snow were about fourteen more.  Seven of them (or at least parts of seven) are in this photo.

 Ptarmigans have feathered feet.

Which appear to act as snowshoes making the strangest bird foot prints I've ever seen.

Willow Ptarmigans are at their cutest in the winter when they only have a few spots of black and a whole lot of white.

They were finding something to eat on these tiny bare-looking bushes.

It was cold but we saw a lot of Willow Ptarmigans. 

 2023 Lifer Number Two