Yes, that is Barn Owl - with an "s". I don't know for sure how many there were but we had lots to choose from!!
First off a Huge THANK YOU to my facebook friend Patti Pickett for taking me out to see them!! So glad you found them and so Very Glad that you shared!!
These Barn Owls were at someone's yard - roosting above the cats and dogs. (Bet they don't have a problem with kittens!! Yikes!!) We stayed out on the road where we had one in fairly good view.
But then another of our birding friends showed up - Gayle Wilcox - and he went up to the door and knocked and when no one answered we went ahead and wandered their yard snapping away.
Some of the owls were in good view - others were high or somewhat hidden by branches - but they were all simply Beautiful!!
This next one had such a white face -
I got alot of shots of this one - those eyes!! What is it about those eyes???
Here's that white faced one with his eyes open - those eyes!!
This one was so gold -
Wandering back and forth across the yard we finally noticed a Great Horned Owl !!
I could spend days here!! But I also had to work later in the afternoon so Patti and I headed out - we wanted to stop and look for Moose yet.
Out on the road Patti spotted a Merlin for us to get some shots of.
I don't even remember what this next one was! Was this a Ferruginous Hawk???
There were hundreds of Hawks out in this area. Everywhere you looked - on fence posts, power line posts, on the ground - Everywhere!! But most of them - like the one above - took off either as soon as you slowed or got the camera pointed at them!! If we decided to drive slowly by - they never moved!
So we made our way over to Mud Lake in search of a couple of Moose. We looked and looked and almost to the end of the road - there he stood! This is a young one - all legs and his nose hasn't grown as long as it will be.
But if your nose isn't long enuf - just get down on your knees to eat lunch!!
What a smart Moose!! We did eventually find an adult Moose too but it hid behind the bushes and we couldn't get any worthwhile shots of it.
Was a Great morning and I have to say Thanks again to Patti Pickett for sharing!!
For those that are following my blog who aren't also "friends" on my facebook page I wanted to let you know that my 2017 Calendar is now available. I've been doing a calendar the last - what? - 5 years?? I'd have to look back and see for sure!
I sell these for $15 each - shipping is extra for those that I have to mail. If you're in Idaho Falls I'll make arrangements to get them to you - probably by picking one up from my husband where he works (I'll include a map to show you where that is at the bottom of this post).
And here's this years calendar -
Cover - Pika
January - Mountain Goats
February - Long-tailed Weasel
March - Cinnamon Black Bear cub
April - Grizzly Bear cubs
May - Baby Bison
June - Black Bear
July - Burrowing Owl
August - Grizzly - mother to the "April" cubs
September - Big Horn Sheep
October - Porcupine
November - Moose
December - Fox
Let me know if you would like to purchase one! You can email me at -
CBerges112@aol.com
Here's the map of where Don works to pick one up from him -
He's at the used car lot for Ron Sayer - in the center right where those 3 red "x"s are. Just south of Scotty's Drive-In and yes, Ron Sayer is next door to North Hiway Cafe. Ask for Don Johnson!
Let me know if you'd like to purchase one!! They make great gifts for those hard-to-buy for people on your list!!
Thanks!
Cindy
Another day off - I had every intention of getting up and going up to Market Lake this morning but that getting home at midnight takes its toll on this old gal!
Don and I got a wild hair today and cleaned out the cupboards. Stuff in there that neither one of us could remember buying!! I remembered my friend - Patti Pickett - had said she was going to run up to Market Lake in hopes of seeing the Saw Whet so I sent her a message to see if she'd had any luck. She had found a Saw Whet and said she'd stick around and show me so I loaded up the car as fast as I could and headed north.
Much to my surprise Patti had found a "new" Saw Whet. This is NOT the same one I'd been seeing. But lucky for us we had a great view of this one!
And you had to be quick - they seem to get bored easily with us!
And I could get a shot of those feet - something I'd been wanting to "see" better.
Patti headed for home and I continued looking thru the trees. Knowing this was NOT the Saw Whet I'd been seeing I was in hopes of finding a second one. There were a few Great Horned Owls and this one was in best view.
And I spied a Squirrel who seemed to be spying on me.
I'm headed back to the car - I'd already stopped by the Saw Whet and got a few more shots again - when what do I spy ahead of me??
Yup. A 2nd Saw Whet!!
Walked around the other side of the tree and I am pretty sure this is the same Saw Whet that I've been seeing.
I wish you guys could see how small they really are! And I can't believe how lucky we are to have them around!
Here's a closer shot -
And he's bored with me too!
I walked back down to see the other one before I headed for home -
Yup - still Cute as can be! How will I ever be able to stay away all Winter???
I just have to have a day off and it's a good excuse to run up to Market Lake! I love seeing the Great Horned Owls but searching for that little Northern Saw Whet - - - they really are a challenge to find and I'm so happy when I finally spot one.
Crazy, huh?
I ended up seeing 6 Great Horned Owls today. That's a record for me! There's two that aren't in the main trees and they were in their usual spots. The first one in the main trees could be seen from way down the path and he was still perched there when I finally got down to him.
I got some shots of him and then walked on north to see what else I could find. The other 3 Great Horned were sitting where you could see them - barely - but it was impossible to get any shots of them. Oh well - they still count!!
So I'm headed back south and even tho' I've already searched these trees I'm walking by I can't help but search them again!
Good thing!!
There he is!! He's pretty high and sitting up close to the tree. And he's had a successful hunt - looks like a mouse of some kind.
Eventually he closes his eyes so I leave him be. Ok - I walked away and then went back!! He was still sleeping.
This time when I was almost to the car I spotted 2 Squirrels as they chased each other around a tree trunk. I stood and watched them and the one stopped and came down to check me out. I still don't know how they survive with all those owls around!
And here's a shot of one of the two Great Horned Owls that aren't in the main trees.
So I went on home and forgot I had laundry to do (oops! Oh well - there's always tomorrow!) Then about 3:30 I headed back north again. I was going to see if the Saw Whet was still in the same spot, get some sunset shots and see if the clouds would clear in the east for some of those SuperMoon shots.
Two out of three ain't bad!!
The little Saw Whet was still in the same spot with his little mouse. This time he actually looked down at me so that was good.
So Cute!!
I found 2 of the Great Horned Owls again. The one was just behind me as I got my shots of the Saw Whet and this one was a bit further up the path.
I stuck around to see if the setting sun would shine on the Saw Whet - not like I wanted but it was certainly worth staying to find out!!
But I did stick around for a sunset shot (or 80!) and chose this one to share with you.
Was a Great day off. Now it's back to work for me tomorrow. Bummer.
Was a beautiful blue sky day today. Sometimes in the Winter when we go to Jackson we don't even see the mountains so on days like today we try and take lots of photos from different locations.
Here they are!
First up are a couple from Snake River Landing.
Then we moved further north to Schwabacher's Landing. We were hoping to see the beavers but didn't have any luck with that so we walked on north and
stopped for shots of the Tetons.
And here's one of me!
And one more - this one taken from over by Kelly.
Hope you enjoyed the Tetons!!
Sometimes you don't plan anything for your day off and it ends up being one of the best days we've had where we head out with our cameras. We hadn't even talked about doing anything until Don got home from the gym this morning - he asked if I wanted to go anywhere and I said - Jackson??
So that's where we went! We decided to go up to Moose first and that's where we found the 2 moose. We made the turn to check around Dornan's and we did drive on by them before we saw them when we drove by the 2nd time!!
The one was laying down and we weren't there very long and the other one laid down too.
So we left them in search of other things to photograph. We ended up at Snake River Landing and Schwabacher's Landing to photograph the Tetons but I'll put them in another blog post of just the Tetons.
But we did find this squirrel - an American Red Squirrel to be exact. He was so fun to watch as he ate his pine cone - just like an ear of corn!!
All Done!!
We're just north of the Jackson Airport and I always have to see what's coming in for a landing when they go over. Caught this airplane right above us.
When we got done getting lots of shots of the Tetons and since we weren't that far from where the moose were we stopped to see what they were doing. Right Decision!! They were up and grazing. Don said we were probably only about 75 feet away from them (and sometimes only 40 feet!!) so we got tons of great shots!!
Here are a few of them
They finally both crossed the road - but not before pausing to look over the Dornan's area.
We spent about 45 minutes with them and except for a few people driving by we had them all to ourselves. Was a Great Day!!
