December 7, 2011 – snowy owl in a field along the kimbal sideroad

This morning was superb.  As planned, I left the house fairly early – 8:30 AM.  I drove up to Seed Road and looked for SNOWY OWLS.  No luck here.  Then I drove into Sarnia and followed the St. Clair River down to Sombra.  I always enjoy driving along the river, especially in the winter.  It is even better when there is alot of ice as ducks, swans, geese and gulls congregate and make for fairly easy viewing.

From here, I headed towards Wallaceburg, driving along the back roads.  In one of the fields, there were about 25 TUNDRA SWANS milling about.  That was certainly a nice sight.  I was hoping to catch sight of some SANDHILL CRANES as I’ve heard that they are in the area.  But I find them.

From Wallaceburg, I drove north on the Kimbal Sideroad.  A beautiful SNOWY OWL was spotted along here out in the middle of a field.  I took this picture of the owl.

There have been numerous sightings of SNOWY OWLS in southwestern Ontario this fall/winter.  Every 4 or 5 years it seems there is a shortage of food in their home turf and many of these beautiful creatures head south.  It appears that this may be one of those years. 

From there, I continued north to Bentpath Line and headed over towards the Shetland Conservation Area.  The gate was locked so I walked the long driveway back into the park area.  And a real nice sight back in there.

Also saw numerous RED-TAILED HAWKS and a few ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS perched and flying along the fields and back-roads on the way back to Strathroy.  A very memorable morning.