The End of 2011 ( owls)

Owls are one thing I cherish being able to see. However I never give out any locations. I feel being able to see these guys is special enough. With patience,admiration,respect and just plain luck . You will get a great shot. If you don't. Just enjoy. It is well worth it.You do not need to chase them which I have seen or bait them which I have seen. The big thing for me first off is just seeing the birds. Watching them teaches me how they survive. I have been very fortunate to have seen these birds hunt and come up with food sometimes or empty having to go rest up and try again later. I do feel for the unfortunate creature to whom they have captured. But I also know this magnificent bird of prey would not survive if it weren't for that tiny morsal. Or sometimes a bigger morsel so that they can survive. Mother nature provides us with abundance so that others may live. It is not an easy life. Hearing them is amazing and just relaxing while I do all this on their turf. Well I feel very special and amazingly fortunate. Lucky things come to those who are patient and wait. I have been extremely lucky with my owls. My last shots were taken the end of 2011. I have not been out in the new year as yet. But my shots were fantastic in that I got them with just sitting,watching and being patient. I beleive my first sighting of a snowy owl was in 2005 in which what I thought were great then. I look at now and flinch. New equipment,more knowledge and as I said before. Just plane luck have been with me. Here are a tiny little red morhped screech owl I was very lucky to have seen. I called him little yoda. Does he ever look like yoda from star wars. What a cutie. My first red morph screech by the way. And then from the tiny to the huge. Great horned owl. My first encounter with a great horned owl was when I was 12 in Mount Albert. We had 5 acreas and backed onto woods. A nice quiet walk in the woods one day led me to beleive this very large great horned female wanted me for lunch. !! She came right at my head with a silence I couldn't beleive. The shadow gave her away. I hit the dirt needless to say. Got my bareings and she was gone. WOW. What a first encounter. And I still remember it like it was yesterday. I learned right then and there that these big birds deserve all the respect we can give them. I must of been near a nest or something. But wow. For the first time with these shots hear,I heard a male great horned owl. I tell you it didn't sound like a owl. We looked at each other and said was that you. Turned out it was right above and behind us in the woods. It was the female we were watching. Big beautiful girl. Incredible. And the male half her size was sitting right behind us the whole time. What a georgeous owl.