I traveled up to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge this past Sunday and was fortunate to stumble across four Snowy Owls perched on different sections of the beach. 2 were in the main beach parking lot and the other 2 were out towards the "hook" of the southern end of the island....for the ones familiar with Chincoteague.
One of the Owls towards the "hook" put on a show for me as it drank from 2 rain filled puddles then moved to a third and started bathing. Apparently the buffer zone for this Owl was 150' (it let me know this when I first came across it) so I had to shoot with one or two extenders on a 500mm lens so it stayed comfortable with my presence.
9. It moved to a tree on the beach to preen and dry off...once it moved closer to the sand dunes I left it alone to preen and rest. I was thankful just to be there as this happened.
Wow congratulations and Wow again!!
You were so lucky!
He put in a beautiful show for you! You were very smart to keep your distance!!
You made out like a bandit with these very priceless captures!
Your story above each photo makes me feel like I was there!!
Beautiful series, Duane. good to know that they're still there - I'll be headed to Assateague/Chincoteague next weekend and hope to have some snowy encounters.
~ Ron