Snowy Owls

by Leah Johnston, Marty Valleau, Joanne Mac Donald, Mike
(Whitby, Uxbridge, Belwood)

Leah from Whitby sent us a picture of a Snowy Owl, and said ... Hi everyone. I was driving south on Garden street just north of Taunton on the roof at the top left of the Canadian Tire, there was a Snowy Owl perched. I checked back an hour later and he was still there. Magnificent!

Marty Valleau from Uxbridge, Ontario, wrote to tell us ... Snowy Owl sighting, Little Britain, Ontario, January 20, 2015 -
I was east bound, and only maybe a mile west of Little Britain, going to Lindsay to see my son. From about a hundred yards I saw this really impressive Owl on top of a telephone pole on the north side of the road. I slowed down, and pulled over just slightly before him. I was look'n at him thinking how nice a moment I was having, seeing him there, then I remembered I could take a picture with my phone. LOL I don't use this option often... :) I figured out how to do that and I got one picture, then he flew away. Nice to watch.... :) He landed on another pole half way down a long icy farmers lane. If it hadn't been icey, I would have driven in for another picture. From what I read here, it was a male, because he was almost pure white, the females have a more barred plumage. Definitely a mature adult size, they can be 22-27" inches in height. He was every bit of that... Weigh 3-5 lbs....I would think this bird weighed more than that, and a Wingspan of 4' ft. It wouldn't surprise me if this bird tipped those scales as well. This Owl was very impressive!!!!! It was sure nice to see.. :) Hope you've enjoyed hearing about it!

Joanne Mac Donald, from Belwood, wrote to say ... January 6 2015, conditions were very cold, sunny and windy. I saw a white owl sitting in a tall tree at the bottom of my driveway. I took a couple of pictures with my phone but they didn't turn out very well. I have great shot of its back. I was sitting in my truck and it would turn its head to look at me. You can believe that I am still watching for another as I live in a rural area with many open fields.

Mike wrote to tell us ... On New Year's Eve, I was driving late afternoon about 10 km north of Shelburne on County Rd. 124. A magnificent snowy owl landed on the hydro wire beside the road, just as I was passing. It was big; it appeared almost to land in slow motion as its wingspan was 3-4 ft. It was completely white as far as I could tell, suggesting that it was an older male. Very impressive!