Hello friends! Welcome to this week’s photo story.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching this owl pair for a couple of years as they have territory just outside of Yellowknife. Any owl sighting is exciting but having the opportunity to see and photograph a great grey on a fairly predictable schedule is a gift that is indescribable.
Just a couple of night ago my son and I took a quick drive out the highway hoping to catch a glimpse of a snowy owl. Ironically they are a rare sighting up here where it’s snowy! I caught sight of a bird flying across the road and into the trees so we pulled over to have a look with the binoculars. It was the great grey.
Typically we don’t get a really great view of her until March but I thought it might be worth the short drive just to see if she was around. I’m hoping that we’ll have more chances to see her throughout the winter and at some point perhaps get a better idea of where she and her partner might be nesting. I have a couple of ideas but hiking through the bush in May is an invitation to death by insect.
Great grey owls are the largest owl species at 61-84cm high with a wingspan of up to 1.5 metres. Females are larger than males and can weigh up to 1.5kg. They are territorial and will defend their nests aggressively. So aggressively in fact they have been known to chase off black bears!
I’m hoping that this pair continue to thrive and I have the chance to capture more images to share.