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Of Snowy Owls and Eiders
Posted by
Deanneart
,
31 January 2012
·
1,048 views
deanne fortnam snowy owl eider new hampshire wildlife
Notes from New Hampshire – from my hide and beyond……
What crazy winter weather we are having here in the Northeastern US. One week will be 9F/ -12.7C and the next, unheard of for January, 50F/10C…. I’m used to having good numbers of birds in the garden feeders all winter long but they are few and far between when the snow cover melts and the weather feels like a spring day. It’s interesting to see how the foraging behavior of my feathered garden friends changes depending on whether or not there is snow on the ground and how warm the temperatures are.
Last Friday the temps swung toward the colder end of the scale and the weather persons were predicting an ice storm. I was looking forward to the photographic possibilities of ice covered perches but it warmed up and rained with only a few birds around (pretty crazy isn’t it, hoping for an ice storm?). So although I was originally planning on spending some time out in the hide the 36F/2.2C, rainy and heavily overcast day dampened my enthusiasm for spending time outside.
Earlier last week however, brought a few warm and sunny days. I took advantage of our second (Hmmm could have been our third) January thaw of the year and did a bit of field work, heading out to the coast to look for Snowy Owls again. We’re having a banner year in the US for Snowys this winter and they’re here in record numbers. Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute Montana says, “What we’re seeing now – it’s unbelievable”. Unfortunately, for me, no luck getting any good photos yet. I seem to keep missing them by a day or a couple hours. When talking to birders along the coast they inevitably say, “You should have been here yesterday. There was a Snowy Owl here all afternoon!” The owls have been pretty reliable at one of our New Hampshire state parks hanging out on some picnic tables, bathhouses and buildings along the coast, not the best setting for an owl shot but I keep hoping I’ll catch them in the dunes. A project for the coming week - hope springs eternal…
As a consolation for lack of owls I did run across a lovely little group of Common Eiders in a harbor where I was finally able to get some closer shots of these beautiful sea ducks. I love the strong black and white contrast and soft green color on the necks of the mature males. These birds are an exposure nightmare but worth the effort to perservere. Any time I'd tried to photograph them in the past these beauties were too far off the coast for any good images. This was the first opportunity I've had in a very long time to get any close up shots. There were six males in this bachelor group with a couple immature birds among them. This handsome fellow was posing nicely and I was able to get a few shots.
The Eiders eventually left the rocks where they were preening and began diving for crabs with a lot of successes while I was watching. I wasn’t the only one paying attention to their captures; they had to defend their lunches from an opportunistic Great Black-backed Gull that was hanging around in the vicinity of the Eiders. It did manage to snatch a crab from one of the juvenile ducks but overall they seemed to be able to hang on to their hard earned catch.
All in all I had a great day at the beach. I didn't get my target Snowy Owl but managed some Eider shots I'd been hoping to get for a few years now. There is always next month to look for Snowy Owls.
What crazy winter weather we are having here in the Northeastern US. One week will be 9F/ -12.7C and the next, unheard of for January, 50F/10C…. I’m used to having good numbers of birds in the garden feeders all winter long but they are few and far between when the snow cover melts and the weather feels like a spring day. It’s interesting to see how the foraging behavior of my feathered garden friends changes depending on whether or not there is snow on the ground and how warm the temperatures are.
Last Friday the temps swung toward the colder end of the scale and the weather persons were predicting an ice storm. I was looking forward to the photographic possibilities of ice covered perches but it warmed up and rained with only a few birds around (pretty crazy isn’t it, hoping for an ice storm?). So although I was originally planning on spending some time out in the hide the 36F/2.2C, rainy and heavily overcast day dampened my enthusiasm for spending time outside.
Earlier last week however, brought a few warm and sunny days. I took advantage of our second (Hmmm could have been our third) January thaw of the year and did a bit of field work, heading out to the coast to look for Snowy Owls again. We’re having a banner year in the US for Snowys this winter and they’re here in record numbers. Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute Montana says, “What we’re seeing now – it’s unbelievable”. Unfortunately, for me, no luck getting any good photos yet. I seem to keep missing them by a day or a couple hours. When talking to birders along the coast they inevitably say, “You should have been here yesterday. There was a Snowy Owl here all afternoon!” The owls have been pretty reliable at one of our New Hampshire state parks hanging out on some picnic tables, bathhouses and buildings along the coast, not the best setting for an owl shot but I keep hoping I’ll catch them in the dunes. A project for the coming week - hope springs eternal…
As a consolation for lack of owls I did run across a lovely little group of Common Eiders in a harbor where I was finally able to get some closer shots of these beautiful sea ducks. I love the strong black and white contrast and soft green color on the necks of the mature males. These birds are an exposure nightmare but worth the effort to perservere. Any time I'd tried to photograph them in the past these beauties were too far off the coast for any good images. This was the first opportunity I've had in a very long time to get any close up shots. There were six males in this bachelor group with a couple immature birds among them. This handsome fellow was posing nicely and I was able to get a few shots.
The Eiders eventually left the rocks where they were preening and began diving for crabs with a lot of successes while I was watching. I wasn’t the only one paying attention to their captures; they had to defend their lunches from an opportunistic Great Black-backed Gull that was hanging around in the vicinity of the Eiders. It did manage to snatch a crab from one of the juvenile ducks but overall they seemed to be able to hang on to their hard earned catch.
All in all I had a great day at the beach. I didn't get my target Snowy Owl but managed some Eider shots I'd been hoping to get for a few years now. There is always next month to look for Snowy Owls.
