# Two Canadians go to the Jersey Shore...



## Clark (Jan 18, 2015)

No joke.

Christine and I drove south to Island Beach State Park the weekend before Christmas.
I forgot how long this beach was. Great place, the waves have the right sound to them.
The first stop was at the south parking lot. And we run into two fellows who had that look in their eye. So of course I say, "So where's the owls?" 
And that was it, we exchanged cellphone numbers, and made a plan to work every other parking lot going north. 
We split up, and two parking lots later, I see one in flight about 300 yards north. Ten minute later, and now there are nine of us, we get great views.








There is no walking on the dunes here. Everybody gets pissy about it.
So with respect to that, and the fact that this is 400mm on a full frame,
this is best shot of snowy owl.







When we left the house in the morning, I said "let's be home by lunchtime." Gotta set a cut off time.
So we say goodbye to all our new friends, and walking back to the car, we notice in the sand is written SNOWY OWL.
Now I see another group of people with cameras. Now I can see the other owl. 
Without moving my feet, I can see two snowy owls.
A short walk and this is what I got.









The side show of this place is the red fox.








So many foxes. After 15 minutes, my wife goes " This is creepy, look at them all."
This can be a very busy place. People feed the wildlife here. That is popcorn on the ground.
We don't do this type of thing. But I have shot next to bird feeders.







In no time at all, the fox learns, when a car stops, to go sit down for a hand out.
If the car doesn't stop, the fox moves on to the next car.
I did not see this woman feed any wildlife.








We didn't get home till 5pm.
Thanks for looking.


----------



## Shiva (Jan 18, 2015)

Great shots as usual Clark.:clap::clap::clap:


----------



## NYEric (Jan 18, 2015)

Is that the new Ford Focus with the hunting blind grill!? 
Great shots, thanks for sharing.


----------



## fibre (Jan 18, 2015)

wonderful pics! I love the landscape of the dunes a lot!


----------



## John M (Jan 18, 2015)

Dang Canadians are walking all over the dunes! Sheeshe....foreigners!

Awesome shots, Clark! I've never seen a Snowy Owl in person. I've seen lots of Great Horned Owls and some Screech Owls (both colour morphs); but, I'd LOVE to catch a glimps of a Snowy. What incredibly beautiful birds!

Love the Fox photos too! Such big, white teeth! 

Gotta ask though, what's up with the car grill photoshopping? Was the Fox really that close; or, did you photoshop it into the picture?


----------



## Clark (Jan 18, 2015)

Thank you!


John, I don't think it would be polite to post someone's license plate. Sure I could of just made it blurry, but come on man, that's fucking funny.
In New Jersey it is required to have front plate ( same for New York state). Pennsylvania is rear plate only.


The fox is that close. They all get that close if you stop the car. Dozens of them running around.
Some clearly not so healthy. Keep your distance.


They hold long enough to get inventive.







Cellphone shot of photogs getting second owl.





Thanks


----------



## John M (Jan 18, 2015)

Clark said:


> John, I don't think it would be polite to post someone's license plate. Sure I could of just made it blurry, but come on man, that's fucking funny.
> In New Jersey it is required to have front plate ( same for New York state). Pennsylvania is rear plate only.
> *Ah, I didn't think of that at all. I should've. We have front plates in Ontario too. Yeah, in that case,....funny!*
> 
> ...


..


----------



## Migrant13 (Jan 18, 2015)

Fantastic shots of the snowy and red fox panhandlers. We see them up here in Mass on the shore up at Parker River Wildlife Refuge but rarely that close. It's more like a white blob in the brown salt marsh and without a scope that's about all you see. Thanks for posting these.


----------



## MaryPientka (Jan 18, 2015)

Great day!


----------



## The Mutant (Jan 18, 2015)

It's Hedwig! Did you see Harry lurking anywhere?

On a more serious note; stunning picture of that last Snowy owl. Such an incredibly beautiful bird.



The most interesting bird experience I've had is what I always think of as 'The Clash of the Titans': 

I was walking at the outskirts of the city when I heard this persistent noise and I decided to investigate. It turned out to be a really angry bird and it was giving someone a good piece of its mind. 

I suspected it could be a cat that was the recipient of the bird's anger, but when spotted the noisemaker and its target, it turned out to be a Eurasian wren giving a Eurasian pygmy owl one heck of a telling off. The owl looked like it had absolutely no idea why the wren was so mad and it just sat there blinking, yup, owlishly.

So, one of the smallest bird species in Sweden arguing with (or rather; at) the smallest owl species in Europe. I think it's quite possible that it's one of the cutest and most ridiculous things I've ever seen. 


I'm just sad I didn't have any camera phone at that time, but I'll always remember it.


----------



## Clark (Jan 18, 2015)

John M said:


> I'd LOVE to catch a glimps of a Snowy. What incredibly beautiful birds!




http://birding.aba.org/maillist/ON

http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=846463&MLID=ON&MLNM=Ontario


http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=846359&MLID=ON&MLNM=Ontario


>aba.org>Birding News(top right)>scroll down to your territory
Good luck.


----------



## John M (Jan 18, 2015)

Thanks Clark. Very cool! Apparently, I'm surrounded by Snowy Owls! They seem to be prefering built up areas and suburbs. I'm in a rural area. I would've thought that they'd prefer the kind of landscape around me, over hanging out near busy highways and developed areas. I need to keep my eyes peeled the next time I'm in the Dundas St and Hwy 427 area. 

I also see that people are posting sightings of Painted Buntings! I didn't know they can be seen in my area. I've seen the odd Indigo Bunting; but, never a Painted Bunting. That'd be so cool!


----------



## SlipperFan (Jan 18, 2015)

Very cool, Clark. Great experience.

I'd have taken the fox home with me.


----------



## abax (Jan 18, 2015)

A good shot of any owl is quite an accomplishment. They're sneaky birds. I hear them a lot around the house,
but never see them. The two fox photos are Nat'l Geographic quality, Clark. WOOHOO!


----------



## Clark (Jan 19, 2015)

abax said:


> I hear them a lot around the house,
> but never see them.



Any missing cats in the neighborhood?
My neighbor thinks it was hawk/falcon, I disagree.


----------



## Brabantia (Jan 19, 2015)

Very nice pictures! I like also the nature with snow as today here in Belgium.
The bird that you shows us is named "Harfang des neiges" (snow harfang). Is this the bird that the Inuits name "ookpik"? It is nearly extinguished here in Belgium.


----------



## phrag guy (Jan 19, 2015)

great shots,there is alot of snowy owls around this year,we saw 6 on sat


----------



## eggshells (Jan 19, 2015)

Damn that fox shot is remarkable. I might have to go to some national parks this summer. Problem is getting this close.


----------



## Clark (Jan 19, 2015)

Many thanks
And for the record, my wife shot the first two fox images.
I forgot to give her credit. 




phrag guy said:


> great shots,there is alot of snowy owls around this year,we saw 6 on sat


Six in a day is remarkable. Cheers!
Is there a crowd of birders/photographers near each bird. I live in a rather high density area, so there are many people with cabin fever looking for a reason to get out. 
One gets used to being elbow to elbow I guess.
Just wondering how it is by you.


Brabantia, look like you bullseyed that one. 
And I appreciate the history lesson. Thank you.


----------



## NYEric (Jan 19, 2015)

No one asked where the Canadians are?


----------



## abax (Jan 19, 2015)

I wonder if that many people hovering over an owl could be called wildlife harassment? I wonder why so many
people feed wild creatures, although Fish and Wildlife Depts. tell them not to do so. Driving up from Spokane to Banff, I saw literally a hundred cars stopped by the
side of the road surrounding a moose with a baby. Not to
even mention driving through the Smoky Mts. and watching idiots feeding black bears from car windows. On
that same trip, a Japanese woman with a camera was gored badly by a bull elk in Banff. I'm not taking issue with
you Clark. You obviously have a good long lens. However, these harassed animals will pay with their lives
if they attack a fool with a camera.

Oh, no missing cats, but I hear a good bit of screaming
rabbits on my roof in the middle of the night.


----------



## phrag guy (Jan 20, 2015)

Hi Clark
We see ours driving around the conntry side,no one around just me and my better half.
The 6 we saw were up north of here.
Visiting a friend and he had not seen any till we went for a drive and he was amazed that there were that many that we saw in his area. We saw ours in about 2 hours.





Clark said:


> Many thanks:
> And for the record, my wife shot the first two fox images.
> I forgot to give her credit.
> 
> ...


----------



## Clark (Jan 20, 2015)

Thanks Russell.

Angela, I think you are talking about this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGQExgOxZMQ

I know that elk got put down right after that.


----------



## abax (Jan 20, 2015)

Nope, the goring I saw was in Banff and a MUCH larger
elk and a very small Japanese woman. Ermon and I were
no more than 50-60' away when it happened. She was not
being respectful and got right in the bull elk's face with her camera. It was also rutting season. I think she got
just what she deserved as do others who harass wildlife
for a camera shot. I don't know what happened to the
elk, but I suspect the Canadian authorities left him alone.
I hope.


----------



## Clark (Jan 21, 2015)

I'll hold off on the crocodile pics for a while.


----------



## abax (Jan 21, 2015)

I hope you used a very, very loooooooong lens! ;>)


----------



## Clark (Jan 24, 2015)

Looks like Newark airport has a snowy owl now.
Not uncommon for the authorities to shoot them.


----------



## NYEric (Jan 25, 2015)




----------



## Clark (Jan 25, 2015)

I remember this particular article. Forth/fifth paragraph.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/s...gs-stirs-speculation-among-bird-watchers.html

Then yesterday I come across this one
http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=851504&MLID=NJ01&MLNM=New Jersey


Yikes.


----------



## KyushuCalanthe (Jan 25, 2015)

Based on your title I thought maybe you saw a couple French Canadians in Atlantic City and said to myself, "ho-hum".

But I stand corrected! Fantastic birds, and I'm sorry to say I can't remember having ever seen even one outside of a zoo. Awesome shots, as always. You almost think they're perched on snowdrifts rather than sand dunes.


----------



## abax (Jan 25, 2015)

I hope there's a happy ending to the bird shooting stories.
There's absolutely no reason airport problems can't be
worked out to save passengers and the lovely birds. Fire
crackers at an airport in KY seems to work quite well.


----------



## Marco (Apr 27, 2015)

Awesome photos. Thanks Clark


----------



## Clark (Apr 30, 2015)

Cheers Marco!


----------



## Clark (Oct 28, 2015)

If anybody is interested, some numbers, graphs
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/snowy1015/


----------



## Erythrone (Oct 28, 2015)

Clark said:


> If anybody is interested, some numbers, graphs
> http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/snowy1015/



Very interesting Clark!! Many thanks for this link


----------



## KyushuCalanthe (Oct 29, 2015)

Interesting. Hedwig on my rooftop :rollhappy:

Too bad we don't have data going back centuries to know if this trend is rare, cyclic or unprecedented. If the earth is going through a major climate shift there will be many more unusual responses like this from various species - I can think of quite a few documented examples here and around the world already in progress.


----------



## Clark (Oct 30, 2015)

Cheers!

Tom, Sarracenia flava is thriving in back yard.
At least 20 ft from foundation of house.
Got at least one seed to germinate from it this year.(natural, no help)

Something else that is new here. Cave crickets.
Only the last 3 years have I had them.
Anybody else in the northeast not have these before?


----------

