2-22-05

 There has been so much publicity about the influx of Great Gray Owls this winter that I thought you might like to see some pictures of some of them.  We took a drive in Aitkin county a couple of days ago and during a 60 mile circle spotted 8 or 9 of these owls.  Some of them were too far off the road to be able to get a good picture but there were a couple that were close enough for a decent shot.  This first one was taken with the compact Cannon Elph with a 3X telephoto.  The rest were taken with the Olympus C725 with a 8X telephoto lens.

  Here's another of the same bird.  It was at the top of a very tall tree right next to the road.

  The extra power of the Olympus lens makes quite a difference, doesn't it?

This next one was quite a bit farther into the woods.

This one was in a tree overlooking a creek and an open field.  As big as these birds are (5 ft wingspan) you'd expect a branch this slender to show a little more bend.

Finally, just as we were coming into the city of Aitkin, we spotted this one on a powerline.

  A strange twist of fate......  after putting over 200 miles on the car over a couple of days looking for owls, we stopped to visit my parents and guess what was sitting in a tree beside the driveway?  Since we didn't have the Olympus with us this is the best picture we could get.

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