I’ve seemed to have developed a pattern by choosing Bone Chilling Days to search for the Winter Owls…but on the Plus Side the sun was out and the winds light and it didn’t feel like -30c.

The First Great Gray was less than cooperative and was situated in a backlit tree with many branches…the waiting game began for it to move but it wasn’t meant to be.

The second started out much the same when first spotted it but soon became active and was on the move from tree to tree.
For the most part Great Grays are very human tolerant and you simply watch and wait. Great Grays spend their day in an endless search for prey and must be extremely difficult with so much snow cover.

Interesting to watch them if they are active…the sudden head jerks then the prolonged stare as they zero in on something beneath the snow.
Sometimes the humans are on the receiving end of that stare…which Stops You Dead in Your Tracks.

Being witness to all this is a Pure Nature Rush.

Great Gray Owl numbers are definitely down this season with reports from others indicating the same. Well I do feel fortunate that I managed to find at least one last week.
There is still well over a month before these owls head back into the forests in mid-March to begin the mating process.
The search will continue when weather and road conditions permit.