Snowy in Newmarket

Well it's been quite a while sine I last posted, my bad!  There haven't been too many exciting sightings that I have been able to catch, but there has been a few!

I went out for a lunchtime drive with one of my labmates Ken (Burrell for everyone who does know him!).  We drove along the river and managed to spot a few Goldeneye, 2 Long-tailed ducks, Red-breasted Merganser and a bundle of Mallards.  It was a pretty quiet day so we really didn't get to see too much!  The water on the Otonabee River is very slowly starting to break up a little bit. I see it everyday while on the bus and although the majority of it is still frozen over, the water patches are opening up and holding quite a few goldeneye!

I tried to also find the Snowy Owl that has been seen in the area, but unfortunately had no luck there either!   I dod, however have some luck while looking for one when I visited Newmarket!

My boyfriend and I were driving all around the onion fields trying to find one we had seen recorded there on Ebird. After about 15-20 minutes of driving around random roads we started to get a little worried that it was no longer around or that it was so snowy we couldn't even find it!   While a concession away I noticed white on top of a telephone pole (photo below!).  Now, either that is a really awkward mound of snow balancing perfectly on a pole....or....that's an owl.

Snow....or owl!?

We raced over to the area (because obviously it was an owl!) and lo and behold....it was!!

Snowy Owl on top of a telephone pole.

We inched our way slowly up towards it in the jeep to take a nice close photo of it.  Unfortunately, as we were stopped and snapping a photo, a large pick-up truck zoomed right by and startled it, making it then fly into the nearby field.

Snowy flying off the pole..

Snowy then flying across the field

It's crazy how well these birds can blend into their environment.  The photo below, the snowy was flying off towards the creek, you can barely see it against the snow.  We lost sight of it until it landed and the dark markings on it's wings showed up once again.  Thank goodness it was on a post or else I would have missed it!

Here's to hoping spring is coming soon!!

Happy Naturing!