Our first Owling Adventure

Today, the boys and I all went owling for our very first time. I had heard that there has been snowy owls sighted throughout southern Maine this winter which is a very rare occurrence. Snowy owls are the largest North American owl and have snow white feathers and catlike yellow eyes. Apparently, ornithologists suspect that a lack of food in the arctic has forced some of the owls (mainly juveniles) to migrate further south than they normally would. This irruption (as it's scientifically called) of snowy owls has caused there to be more snowy owls in Maine than there has been since at least 1943, perhaps ever. Having had never seen an owl out in the wild, and knowing how much Mattimeo loves owls, I had been very eager to go out owling with the boys all winter. Finally, today was the day!

Link and I owling

Heading out, I wasn't sure we would actually see a snowy owl, but I was as happy as a fat man eating cake to be out looking. You can imagine my surprise when within a few minutes of driving around Biddeford Pool we spotted our first snowy owl! It was perched on top of a roof on a vacant house between the marsh and the ocean.

This first owl was beautiful, but also quite gruesome as it appears to have blood all over its face. Well, I'm glad it has had luck finding food here in Maine!

Biddeford Pool

The second owl we spotted was perched on a telephone pole. I hopped out of the car and quietly crept across the street so that I could photograph it when it swooped down in front of me and landed at the edge of the marsh to snatch up a mouse! I felt so giddy being able witness such graceful, fierce owl behavior first hand!

snatching up a mouse!

Here is a close up of the owl snatching up its lunch:

After I took a few photos, I hurried back to the car to grab Meo so that he could come out and see the owl too. Robbie had pointed it out to him when it took off flying, but I was hoping he could catch a glimpse of it closer. But by the time we got outside it had flown way out to the convent.

So to the convent we went.

This is how excited I was

After taking some photos of this beautiful snowy owl, the batteries in my camera died. So we decided to take a walk along the ocean before heading home. Mattimeo had fun running around in the field with me and pretending he was climbing really tall mountains. Link slept on Robbie most of the time, but it was Link's first time visiting the ocean and he did get to breastfeed next to its cold, crashing surf.

Breastfeeding Link

On the way home, we saw a third owl on a roof top, but I didn't have a camera to photograph it. I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful day by the ocean with my family, and to have seen those majestic snowy owls in the wild.