As you might guess from this image, the light was a challenge, at least for me and my camera : ) However, I was thrilled to bits to see this Great Gray Owl and its mate when I did another long drive NW of the city yesterday, 13 March 2016. I had been up there the previous day, but had seen absolutely nothing - several other people had also been looking, without success.

I was so very lucky yesterday, as there was a car already pulled over at the edge of the road. I could see two guys standing in the road and, when I got there, I spotted a third man just a little way into the trees. They had seen an owl fly across the road and fly into the trees, landing on top of a tall, broken tree trunk. After sitting there for a while, it suddenly dove down to the ground, disappearing from my sight, and apparently caught a Meadow Vole, which it then carried back to the dense trees to give to its mate. We had a brief view of the two owls and then one flew off. I'm not sure if the owl in my photo is the male, but I think it could be. I'm also not sure about its colouring - it looks very dark blackish-brown, but I don't know if that is because of the way my camera dealt with the poor light or if that is close to the true colour. It also has a lot of white feathers either side of its bill. Doesn't have the usual bushy white eyebrows, either. After sitting for quite a while, it, too, flew off.

My thanks definitely go to these three guys, whom I didn't know, for being the reason that yesterday was not a complete wash-out like the previous day! I really didn't feel like doing a long drive again yesterday, but the number 13 is my lucky number, so I reckoned I would make myself do it. Also, at that time, the forecast for the coming week was for snow and rain, so I thought I had better make the most of such a beautiful, sunny day. After seeing these two owls, I saw absolutely nothing for the rest of my time out there.

Met a lovely young woman out there, who had never seen a Great Gray Owl and was so hoping to see one. We tried to find one, but no luck. Nice to meet you, Barbara : ) Hope you get a chance to come to Calgary again and manage to see one.

By the way, everyone, don't forget to change the clock in your camera, if it doesn't change itself. I totally forgot until late last night.