Far from the Madding Crowd

Today was a very long but lovely day.

We went with our friend to Amherst Island in search of owls. Owls and other birds of prey gravitate to this island in winter in search of the voles who live in the fields and woods. What a beautiful day - warm for winter, sunny, beautiful.

By the end of the day we found many wonderful birds and animals. The highlights:
- a coyote out in the open on the iced lake
- bald eagles, red-tailed hawks and rough-legged hawks hunting
- the whir of swan's wings as they flew over the ice
- a flock of snow buntings - I love the pattern of white and soft gray as they fly

And the owls: a sawwhet owl, a barred owl staring straight through me with its huge black eyes, a delicate hawk owl and the perfect view of this snowy owl, shining white as the sun started to set.

I could learn to love winter on days like this.