Lifer!

 On our way to Saskatoon a few days ago, I checked the Ebird list for the city to see what people had been seeing and saw the mention of a bird I'd long wished for.  Ever since a friend who doesn't like birds, (have you ever heard of such a thing?) sent me a photo of a Long-eared Owl taken on their property, it has been on my target list.  

We showed up at the site about 4:30 pm, not the ideal time to see an owl but the sightings I'd read about were all in the daytime.  No one had said where in the park the owls had been seen (did I mention there were 4 juveniles as well as a parent or two?) so we walked through the part of the park we guessed they might be in and peered into the trees without luck.  Then we met a dog walker who said the three times (!) he'd seen any of the owls they'd been in different parts of the park and high in the trees.  We wandered around some more, peering high into the trees, then took a short path off the main trail and Ray saw a young owl.

Minutes later the granddaughter with us found an adult much lower in a tree than I had been looking.

I tried to get into a position where I could get the twig out of the face, but the owl was not in favour.  Maybe next time.