Out On the Wing #91: Operation Hedwig

I've done it again! Another bird on the list and while I'm a long way off from 350 species, but for once, I got a bird fairly quickly.

As you can probably guess from the title, I saw my first Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) near lot 7 at Parker River NWR. While it was an excellent find, I wouldn't have been able to find it without a tip from another birder. My initial strategy was to work my way down the beach and look out in both directions for anything vaguely white and owl-shaped.

At lot 3, I met another birder along the boardwalk who hinted that he'd seen a Snowy near lot 7 about an hour beforehand and was currently pursuing a Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) that had been spotted nearby. I traveled as quickly as I could (25 mph speed limit after all) and got out of the car. A woman was sat in her car nearby and smiled as I walked by.

"There's been a Snowy Owl spotted.", she said. I nodded and asked where it was now.

"Go north up the beach and its sitting out in the open.", she replied.

As I traversed up the beach, another birder joined me in the quest for a Snowy. He'd seen them before, but hadn't seen one in a few years so we double teamed our way up the beach. Initially we mistook this log for the bird, but crept closer in case it moved.

Sure enough, the log stayed resolute and stationary so we scanned further up the beach. The first thing that tipped me off was the other birder about a quarter mile up the beach with a scope.

What's harder to see in the picture is the small dark hump just off center in the middle latitude of the picture. That's the owl. Not wanting to disturb it, I stayed back, but my fellow birder eagerly shadowed the dunes, creeping along trying to get better views. He didn't get terribly close (probably within 500 feet or so, but I didn't want to flank the poor bird). It was a young female based on the extremely barred feathers. She blended so well into the side of the beach as well.

I did manage to get the following shots of the bird. I was thrilled to bits! Now nemesis bird status shifts to Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) and the hunt begins again!