Cute Enough to Make Your Head Spin

Go skiing or go to the beach? Skiing or the beach? Skiing or the beach? We chose the beach. After a week of debating the probability of good snow conditions versus the probability of finding one of the only Snowy Owls to grace the state of Maryland with its presence, we chose the Snowy Owl at the beach. We were pretty happy about the choice,

We arrived at the Assateague Island National Seashore Ranger Station at about 8:00. Quickly picked-up our Over Sand Vehicle Pass, microwaved some tea, payed the park fees, and quizzed the rangers about the presence of our snowy owl. We were relieved and excited to discover that Little Snowy had been seen on Friday when a naturalist was doing a survey of birds.

The five of us crammed into my little jeep and started down the beach. For about fifteen minutes, every bleached-out piece of driftwood or misplaced garbage bag sent us into conniptions--binoculars hurriedly scanning the horizon. We were desperate not to miss the little critter. It didn't take us too long though. After about 15 minutes driving down the beach, we spotted the little Snowy Owl near Kilometer 22.

We spent about three hours on the cool, windy beach snapping photos of the little Snowy Owl. In each of his perches, the drill was the same. Move forward to a position 50 yards away--well short of what would spook the owl to fly off. Take pictures. Owl yawns--click, click, click, click, click, click.... Owl opens eyes--click, click, click, click, click, click.... Owl preens foot--click, click, click, click, click, click.... Owl poops--click, click, click, click, click, click.... Then we would look at one another shrug our shoulders, lift our tripods and shuffle forward ten steps, like a Marine Corps precision drill-team. We would quickly reset our tripods--hoping that the owl wouldn't do something spectacular like regurgitating a pellet--and then restart the procedure. The little guy flew four or five times. In flight, the owl was quiet like downy snowflakes raining silent death on unsuspecting rodents.

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