Snowy Owls, Cape Cod January 2014

February 05, 2014  •  1 Comment

I have a trip coming up at the end of February to respectfully 'stalk' and photograph Snowy and Great Grey Owls in Canada, very exciting!  So when my best friend Jamie clued me in (and taunted me with amazing photos) that there is a phenomenal showing of Snowy Owls on Cape Cod this year I decided to go out and visit him 'on the Cape'.  It had been far too long since our last visit (Jamie and his entire beautiful family had been out to stay with us in early January).  Jamie and his brother Jay picked me up at Boston's Logan airport and we promptly went to the first place I always go when I arrive back home: Mike's Roast Beef.  There is no place that I have found in California that makes a roast beef sandwich like Mike's,  the roast beef is from a prime cut of meat and is as close to raw as you'd ever want, gently cuddled in a soft onion roll that also houses some cheese and I don't know what kind of addictive secret sauce. I'm hungry! 

Oh yeah, Owls!  Jamie and I spent two and a half days going to various locations where the Snowy's had been spotted and took our time to get in position with lighting from the proper angle etc….If you've ever spent time in New England in the winter you know that it can be chilly, some might even say cold (but if you're from New England you wouldn't admit to it). We spent a lot of time on the marshes of Duxbury, a beautiful town with historic charm and amazing seaside properties. The marshes themselves are an arduous journey with numerous tributaries (for lack of a better word) to be ware of.  Add in snow and ice to 'hide' these crevices and you have a recipe for disaster, injury and possibly broken, damaged or lost equipment!  With a 5 foot wingspan and standing up to 2 feet tall you'd think these birds would be a breeze to spot.  Not so when there is snow on the ground.  During our 2 and a half days we spotted at least 6 individual Owls and were able to respectfully approach a few of them over the course of time and with much patience.  The weather and lighting were fantastic, 30 degrees and just enough cloud cover to diffuse the sunlight for even lighting on the top of these majestic birds and also reflect off of the snow to open up the shadows on the underside of these large Owls.  We were bundled up for the long haul on these winter days me in my North Face gear (4 layers hat and gloves) and Jamie in a casual dress shirt and sweater…I may have become California-ized!  Oh well I was comfortable.

 I'm sure Jamie and I took over 2,000 pictures and I have uploaded about 20, so check back we will probably add more as we pour through them.

Please visit    http://www.jcmichaelphotography.com/p176212844    to view these photos.

I welcome comments from our intensive nature photography expedition!


Comments

Cindy Lang(non-registered)
Beautiful pictures!
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