Snowy Owls By St.Albert

BloodHound70 · #1 01-14-2019, 11:17 AM

Anyone else go and search out the Snowy Owls hanging out by St.Albert?

I saw it on the news the other day so I took the family for a drive to see if we could find them.
Sure enough they were right where they were reported to be. There were 2 of them sitting on the light standards North of the Henday on Ray Gibbon Dr. Apparently they have been hanging out around there for the past week or more.
It was the highlight of our winter. They are by far my favorite bird and I am not sure if I have ever seen one in the wild. WHAT A THRILL.....

BH

Dweb · #2 01-14-2019, 11:49 AM

Wife and I were driving down Ray gibbon and tons of vehicles pulled over people in the field taking pictures of the lightpoles , looked up and sure enough there's an owl! Very cool ..

This was on Boxing Day actually

yoteblaster · #3 01-14-2019, 11:58 AM

Saw 4 yesterday on the way to Taber. BEAUTIFUL birds. By far my favourite bird. Didn’t see a single antelope though which is very unusual

M.C. Gusto · #4 01-14-2019, 12:00 PM

They were at the sod farm 1km west for at least a solid month but have really been liking the light posts. The male is solid white and the female (which you see daily) is the white/black.

I keep waiting for the gyrfalcon to come back.

Ronan_357 · #5 01-14-2019, 12:01 PM

Bloodhound, if you venture into hawks ridge in the summer you should be able to spy the bald eagles that nest by the water

BloodHound70 · #6 01-14-2019, 12:02 PM

the 2 i saw were both speckled. Did not see the solid white one

BH

Bushmaster · #7 01-14-2019, 12:03 PM

I see snowies every day....on my way to town and back for coffee.

DOGFISH · #8 01-14-2019, 12:04 PM

We have a couple at work on the East end of Sturgeon County. See them quite often. Very cool birds.

BloodHound70 · #9 01-14-2019, 12:31 PM

I sure hope I get to see them a few more times this winter.

BH

ttankster · #10 01-14-2019, 03:16 PM

Was out with the camera looking for them E of Calgary, and spotted an even dozen! Incredible birds. I look forward to them arriving every year!

Grizzly Adams · #11 01-14-2019, 05:18 PM

Usually a couple sitting on power poles between Olds and Three hills.

Grizz

lakerman · #12 01-14-2019, 06:08 PM

Saw a white one this week near the Garrison army base.

abenaki-warrior · #13 01-14-2019, 07:23 PM

Male i saw yesterday. Alway in same area year after year.

Sorry for sideway picture.

CptnBlues63 · #14 01-15-2019, 08:19 AM

Sunday, Jan 6/19 the wife and I went to St. Albert and I spotted a snowy flying across the highway (headed west) just north of Morinville. On the way back saw another (or the same one, no way to be sure) sitting on a power pole.

On a side note, my best friend's dad used to have a snowy mount (back in the 60's/70's). Apparently he (dad, not my bro) was driving along and hit the darn thing and killed it so he picked it up and took it to a taxidermist. Used to hang in their basement. Beautiful birds!

Strix · #15 01-15-2019, 01:38 PM

For lots of interesting information on Snowy Owls, check out this link:

https://www.projectsnowstorm.org/story/

R3illy · #16 01-15-2019, 04:56 PM

I had a spooky encounter on a gravel road last oct. I had just finished scouting an area, the sun set and it was starting to get pretty dark. As I was driving in the middle of no where I had this big owl pop out that flew beside my driver side window for a half a mile or more. As I slowed it slowed. Eventually I came to a stop as I thought it was super weird for an owl to be pacing my truck. As I did the owl landed on the road in front of me.

It was a spooky encounter. Almost like it didnt want me driving down this road. We were stuck on that road for another 10 minutes as this owl stared at us. Eventually it flew away. My buddy and I were left scratching our heads wondering what the hell this owl was up to.

I heard lots of superstitious stories related to owls as I shared this encounter with friends. Glad I didnt know about them before hand as they weren't good superstitions.

Okotok · #17 01-16-2019, 07:27 AM

Was driving in the dark in a blizzard near Tomahawk a few years ago. A Snowy owl came out of nowhere and glanced off my windshield. A little unnerving. Hope he made it.

Grizzly Adams · #18 01-16-2019, 08:59 AM

I see you can still buy these. My first exposure to Snowy Owls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Owl

Grizz

BloodHound70 · #19 01-22-2019, 10:10 AM

I have driven Ray Gibbon about half dozen times so far and have seen them almost every time. Took my young daughter the other day with my superzoom camera to try and get some good shots of them. She loved it!!

BH