Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Snowy Owl Visitor

Snowy Owl
 Minnesota is some what unique in its location and habitat. We have 4 separate biomes in the state. We have prairie parklands, similar to the great plains in the western third of the state. Eastern broadleaf forest, similar to much of the land east of the Mississippi, in the south east third. In the north east there is Laurentian mixed forest, which is similar the forests in southern Canada.  last there is a small area of aspen parklands in the northwest. The mixture of these habitats provides Minnesota with a variety of different species which varies depending upon the season. For instance last winter we had a lot of snowy owls that came down from their normal range in Canada and Alaska. These birds migrate south only when there is not enough food or too many birds. It is a treat to get to see these beautiful birds but unfortunately many end up getting themselves in trouble. I took these pictures with the flight crew at The Raptor Center. A week or two after the pictures where taken these owls were released back to the wild. This is one of the calendar pages on the new 2013 Raptor Calendar, most of which I shot and put together for them. If you are interested in supporting a great cause you can purchase one of these kick ass calendars here.



9 comments:

Marko @ Travel Photo Blogging said...

Great shots of the owl. I guess it is next to impossible to see it in the wild so this must be the next best thing.

Keep up the good work!

Libby said...

Hi Ecobirder! LOVE these shots of the snowy owl! The yellow eye is great! What a great field trip you took :)

Wally Jones said...

Nice article. Obtaining decent images of owls is one of my continuing challenges.

Fjällripan said...

the white owl is really beautiful!

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Grand, absolutely grand!

Pat said...

What a beautiful creature!

Crafty Green Poet said...

what an amazing bird!

Black Jack's Carol said...

We had them in Vancouver last winter at Boundary Bay. Quite a rare happening, apparently caused by poor food supply further north. Unfortunately, greedy photographers chased them relentlessly. That drove me crazy. Such beautiful birds. I blogged about it here

Rambling Woods said...

Beautiful photos Jeff and I will go and buy one of the calendars to help support raptors...Michelle