Snowy Owl Safari

My dad, Addi, Landon and I took a drive to Polson to find the famous Snowy Owls. Occassionaly a few Snowy Owls will migrate as far as Western Montana, but only once every decade or so will a large number of them make their wintery home here.

When I was working with Denver Holt, an owl biologist with Ninepipes Owl Research Institute, we would sometimes be lucky enough to see a rare visitor and he would point out a white blob perched on a hay bale or irrigation piping. Usually they were too far way to barely make out the beautiful details of these large artic owls with the spotting scope.

I had high hopes of finding the owls. With my dad and his amazing eye for wildlife and my little naturalist guiding me from the back seat I was sure we would have success.

We stopped at Richwhines for a burger, fries and a milkshake. The women working there pointed us to the Skyline area of Polson. The residential area on the hill. I was skeptical we would find the birds perched among the houses. I was expecting them to be hanging out in open fields perched on farm equimpment. But we decided to trust the local advice and headed up the hill.

Sure enough dad spotted a white blob perched on the roof of a house. A bit later I spotted another one perched on hill in someone's yard.

If you weren't looking for them, they would easily go unnoticed. Looking like a snow bank.

My Little Naturalist.

 Other area wildlife.

Mountain Blue Bird, male. Literally as blue as the sky.

The Mission Mountain Range.

{March 10, 2012}