This is about the best photo of a Snowy Owl that I could get in the last couple of weeks. They have been elusive, to say the least, even when nearby. Most of that time I have encountered the far more wary individual – one of two hanging out for the winter in the Stratford Point area – and it has been certainly as jumpy as ever lately. On Tuesday it was chased off by crows before anyone noticed it hunkered down in the grasslands. The shot here is the result of it flying off last week before I could even raise my camera between the door and body of my Jeep from hundreds of feet away near our office building (also known as extreme caution on an already busy and active site). I had arrived in the morning and saw it fly a few feet to a perch from afar. It noticed me and decided then to fly down to the beach, and shortly after to go over to the breakwater in the mouth of the Housatonic River. Every bird is different, and some are so cooperative…like our other friendly wintering individual! Still, others are not, and it is best to leave them be.
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
