So far, the numbers don't seem to be quite as high as last year, but it is undeniable, at least here in Indiana, that there are a greater than average amount of Snowy's this year. One even showed up in downtown Muncie.
Naturally, this particular owl was first spotted on the very day Sara and I were en route to Springfield, Missouri, for a long weekend Gradubirthmas celebration with the family. I love my family (duh), but it was a bit painful for the extreme birder inside of me to see regular updates about the Snowy Owl perched less than ten minutes from my apartment.
When we returned to Muncie, Sara and I immediately headed downtown in search of the now famous owl. No luck. She (the owl was identified to be a female, although age is still unknown) did not appear again for the next few weeks and we all assumed she had moved on to more suitable habitat.
This morning I heard that a Snowy Owl had been spotted at the Delaware County Airport last night. I had an hour before I had to be a school for job training, so I drove over there. I met up with Claire (my lab-mate) and we circled around the airport, again with no luck (but we did see a flock of Horned Larks, so that was pretty great).
Naturally, Claire texted me about 47 seconds after I left to say that she had found the owl.
The Snowy Owl was still waiting for me when I came back. After trying, to no avail, to take a photo with our fancy, new, DSLR camera, I stuck my cell phone up to someone's spotting scope, threw on a few Instagram filters, and produced the best photo I've ever taken of a Snowy Owl.
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