Snowy Owl Zen

Every now and then, it is good to stop and smell the roses, which if you are a snowy owl looks like the scene above. Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for bringing this to our attention:

Facebook | Gary Cranfield

Gary Cranfield recorded the video last weekend while he was out on a walk with his girlfriend, Betsy Waterman, along Lake Ontario near Oswego, N.Y.

“There are usually sightings this time of year and historically there have been snowy owls in this place for years and we decided to check it out,” Cranfield, 69, told Syracuse.com.

You can watch the results of that wintry expedition above. And for those of you out there worrying, Waterman assures us the bird was not stuck — they watched it chill for 30(!) minutes on the floe before it flew away to another one.

And to David Figura for this original report:

Facebook | Gary Cranfield

Cayuga County resident Gary Cranfield and his girlfriend, Betsy Waterman, enjoy the outdoors and love to go in search of wildlife to take pictures.

The two were out Saturday looking for snowy owls after hearing some might be out on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario near Oswego. What they ended up getting was mesmerizing – a captivating video and photos of a snowy perched on some ice in a bay and bobbing with the waves.

“There are usually sightings this time of year and historically there have been snowy owls in this place for years and we decided to check it out,” said Cranfield, 69, of Fair Haven.

He declined to give the exact location “out of respect for the bird.”

At first, the couple spotted a snowy owl perched on a post, but it was a long ways off – too far to get a good picture, Cranfield said. Since it was cold, they decided to take a break. When they came back the owl was gone.

It was then that Cranfield noticed something in the water on top of the ice, initially thinking it was a stick. He then noticed some movement and decided to take a closer look.

Using his girlfriend’s camera (a Canon PowerShot Sx50), Cranfield was able to zoom in on the bird was delighted to see it was snowy. The two then spent some 30 minutes taking pictures and videos of the bird. Cranfield the photos were good, but the video showed the movement of the ice and more accurately portrayed the scene.

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