A Muddy, Snowy Afternoon With A Barred Owl

 I've shot barred owls in Landham Brook Marsh Conservation Area/Lyons Cutler Reservation twice so far this year, but havent gone back in a while. On January 21st, I went back, hoping to find it again. The ground was still covered with snow and so were the tops of all the maples and pines in the swamp. The individual I was looing for roosts in a patch of eastern white pine, surrounded by a thick, brushy, wooded swamp. I walked through the pines without seeing anything, and then I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the owl in a very low snag about maybe 20 feet from the trail. It was staring at me, clearly just woken up from a mid-day nap. This was a very lucky find, as I usually find barred owls buried deep in a swamp, but this one was roosting right along the trail...

I photographed it for about 1 minute before it jumped off the branch, in the direction of the swamp. It flew up into a pine tree that stood tall above all the maple trees that made up the swamp. It clearly felt safer now that it was higher up...

                                      ...and it didnt wait long before going back to sleep...

...He woke up breifly after around 10 minutes, to hop to a higher branch. I was not prepared, and my shutter speed was too low to sharply capture it's jump, but here's the shot anyway...

...The owl then scratched it's throat: another quirky photo. A nice change from the expected sleeping like a statue. Again, The shot was a bit blurry...

I invited a few photographers to the swamp, to shoot with me. The owl stared at us at first, but clearly realized we weren't about to cross the stream to get closer, and it felt safe enough to resume its nap. By this point, the slush, snow and mud had absorbed into my socks and shoes, leaving my toes numb, despite the warmer than usual temperature...

Unfortunately, I had a commitment at 4pm, and after around 2 hours of watching the barred owl sleep, I had to head home. Overall, despite the snow, slush, and mud, today in my opinion was my best day of barred owl photography so far.