Barn Owl in flight near the snow covered Great Salt LakeBarn Owl in flight near the snow covered Great Salt Lake – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

Well, it finally snowed in the Salt Lake Valley last night and when I woke there was a layer of snow on the grass outside my window. Even though it is still dark I can tell that the road is wet and shiny but not snow covered. It looks like winter is on its way.

Two days ago it was a record breaking 73°F in Salt Lake City and in nearby Colorado many cities were reporting temps in the 80 degree range. Usually before now there is enough snow to have opened the ski resorts in Utah, not so this year.

But this morning the snow on the ground has me thinking about the birds I hope to see and photograph this winter. It is challenging to photograph birds in the snow whether the light is low or bright but I truly enjoy the testing my skills and the cooler temps.

I photographed the Barn Owl in the photo above in February of this year as it flew over snow covered mud flats that surround the Great Salt Lake from the causeway to Antelope Island State Park.

Maybe I will finally get images of a Snowy Owl or better images of a Gyrfalcon, I can dream, right?

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to view more of my Barn Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.

I am dreading the winter inversions but I guess our governor and many of our legislators think that serving industry and allowing uncontrolled pollution is more important than clean air and serving the people of this state. Denver cleaned up its infamous brown cloud so the Salt Lake Valley could too if we had effective leadership. We don’t though. However; if they could make money off of cleaning up the pollution that causes the inversions we’d have the cleanest air in the country.