So, I recently announced on my Facebook page that I would be shutting it down. It's a decision I have long, long been struggling with. Truth is Facebook has simply run its course with me. The drama it brings is overwhelming.
I like to write and get my thoughts out. And, I know that I 'need' to do that somewhere. So, here I am. Nothing has changed with me except... no more Facebook. My heart hurts for all the followers I had that I came to love over the years, but I needed a change. I need a page that is mine and only mine. A page that if I don't post for a whole year, which won't happen, will still be here waiting for me. I felt so fortunate to have all the followers I did, and posts that would reach up to half a million people in the world at times, but the truth is I never advertised or solicited for followers. And, it all just felt like it was too much at times.
I've had this page for quite awhile and used to duplicate my Facebook posts on it. I just haven't kept it up for a bit, but will be slowly adding old posts from Facebook here, and adding my new posts as they come.
So, if you took my hints on my Facebook page to watch the links in Instagram and now have found this page... Well, I truly welcome you. It's just me, the same me I've always been. Just a bit simplified. And plus, the images will look so much better here than they do on Facebook.
Enjoy... This is the snowy owl post from earlier this year on Facebook...
I wanted so badly to say in my last picture post (with the whale and dolphins) that on the same day we also discovered a snowy owl had settled in on the island, as well. I’m sure if you follow other pages you have already heard about it, but I decided to wait a bit to release my images just to make sure it was not “over advertised” so-to-speak. It’s wonderful when folks are able to get out and find any of the snowy owls that visit, but unfortunately not everyone respects the need for them to rest during the daytime. The owl is now long gone, actually, it really wasn’t on the island very long so I feel very fortunate to get the images that I did.
I also tried something new this year and used my 600mm coupled with my 2x teleconverter giving me 1200mm of ‘zoom’. I honestly didn’t think the real world images would turn out that great (teleconverters tend to reduce image quality), but I recently purchased a Canon R3 and the focus ability and power to drive the lens combination was much better than I anticipated. The ability to use that combination left a lot of room between me and the owl; I even found myself backing up at times just to get more of the surroundings in.
So, back to the snowy owl. Friends of mine first spotted the owl on December 31st so my wife and I headed down to meet them. They showed us the owl, and after we took some images we decided to just drive down the OSV a bit farther. That’s when we spotted the whale that was highlighted in my last post. Once the whale swam back out into the open ocean, we continued down the OSV and then returned to the snowy owl for sunset. It really was a perfect way to end the year.
Fortunately, I did manage to have a few other opportunities to photograph the owl, but not that many. It was also nice that anytime that I went out to see it, everyone that I noticed that were also taking images were very respectful of the creature. My last opportunity to see the owl was at sunset on January 5th… A few days later the OSV closed down due to overwash, and by the time it opened again the snowy owl was gone.
I won’t pretend I know much about snowy owls, but what I learned from other folks and some light reading is the owls that leave their grounds in the Arctic are usually younger owls. I’m told males may have lighter banding when younger and will turn nearly all white as they age. As far as the females go they have darker banding that they keep as they get older, although it might slightly fade. For instance, an adult female may resemble an immature male. Except for the all/nearly all white male, I am not sure how to tell the difference between the adult female and immature male, honestly. Although I believe the immature females are the ones we have seen that have really dark banding. They are also considered diurnal meaning they could feed at all hours of the day (I suppose they have to say that since their summer consists of 24 hours of light in the Arctic regions), but I am told the ones that are on Assateague for a few short weeks tend to ‘sleep’ during the day and hunt at night. That has been my experience watching them over the years, as well. They seem to hang out in one spot during the day and rest as much as possible. As the evening comes and it gets darker I’ve noticed they seem to wake up, and their activity greatly increases until they choose to fly off the dune to start hunting prey. I’ve also read that certain snowy owls will return year after year to the same winter grounds while others will stay in the Arctic year round. With that said, Assateague has had years of no snowy owls, so apparently no snowy owl has made Assateague their permanent winter retreat. But, Assateague is way farther south than their normal winter grounds, and our area is considered their irruptive area in that they will visit irregularly in the wintertime. And one last little fact, their wingspan is roughly 5 feet, and they are the heaviest owl in North America weighing in at approximately 4 pounds. I read that's about a pound heavier than my beloved great horned owls.
So, there you have it… Assateague Island’s star visitor of the year that traveled 2,000 or so miles from the north to grace us with its presence.
I hope you enjoy the images.
See you next time…
~MP Mike
