Snowy Owl Sighting

I have it on good authority (my boss via an Oregon Birding Assoc. contact) that a Snowy Owl has begun hanging out at Ridgefield along the auto tour route near Rest Lake.

Craig: I know you are a regular. Have you seen it? I hope to check it out next week.

Your right Marylynne, a snowy owl at the refuge a rare sighting for sure. I received a call from a photographer friend and drove over immediately. The owl wasn't difficult to find, just look for a dozen cars parked together. He was sitting in grass on top of a short berm overlooking a water pond between refuge markers 11 and 12. Rest lake is on the left and the water and he on the right. Only problem is he was too far away to get a good detailed shot, even using my 600mm lens. Hopefully he will stay a few days and maybe some of us will be lucky enough to catch him on a post or tree and a lot closer. I took many shots but you can only do so much when the subject is 140-150 feet away. This image, although very poor, at least documents my first snowy sighting. At home I checked the Sibleys Bird guide and he states that snowy owls move south when they are having problems finding enough to eat and so become stressed. They usually are nocturnal hunters like most owls but when hungry they also hunt during daylight. This cropped image is about 40% of the original.
Good Luck to all our bird shooters, this is a rare sighting, even if it's only thru your binoculars!
Craig

Clearly a different snowy owl, but one that sounds like he's sticking around a little longer:

http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20111217/NEWS0107/312179998/