Happy New Year's

My wife and I stayed at a friend's house for NYE and were nearby Jones Beach so we decided to check for some Snowy Owl's which have been prevalent in that area. Additionally, a Northern Shrike had been reported sporadically in the past few weeks.

We arrived and saw a few photographers (in full mossy oak camo) on a dune and figured for sure there was a Snowy Owl there. I took a short walk and got a couple distant photos and ran went back to my car where a birder informed me of another owl in the dunes further down the beach where there were no other photographers. My wife and I headed out on foot, and shortly after leaving the car I found the Shrike which was a bonus since I'd never photographed one before (and wasn't even looking for it) and it wasn't long before we came across the Snowy Owl nestled in the dunes, looking quite sleepy. It was nice to enjoy this bird away from the throngs of other photographers/birders and impressively it's the 4th owl my wife has found on 4 trips (she's much better at finding them than I am!)

Nikon D7100 300mm f4 +1.7X TC HH lying down on sand
f/8
1/1250s
ISO 500
1.3X Crop Mode
Cropped to 82%, minor adjustments in LR5 and CS5

- Luke