December 17 and 18, plus snowy owl

[asakiyume]

A snowstorm is expected today, so yesterday I only felt like doing something kind of perfunctory, so I did these very standard Christmas bells.



But then this morning I woke up and ... no snow. No snow expected until after noon. Well, I couldn't do *two* perfunctory pictures, so I did one I'd been saving up: a blue jay.



And here, unrelated to the Advent calendar, is a sweet photo from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, a local paper: a snowy owl ^_^ What an armful!

Comments

[athenais]

I long to see a snowy owl in the wild. I live in the wrong place for that, though.

[asakiyume]

According to the Cornell ornithology website, my area is about as far south as they come, and only in winters. Theoretically I could see one in the flesh, but I think this photo is as close as I'll ever get. Maybe next time you take a winter trip to Sweden or Iceland ;-)

I liked this language from the Cornell Ornithology website--especially the part about "airport lands." Makes them seem like their own country.

In winter, look for Snowy Owls along shorelines of lakes and the ocean, as well as on agricultural fields and airport lands. Snowy Owls breed in the treeless arctic tundra.