Just another day in the big swamp.

[JayinMN]

I woke up at 7 a.m today to head down in search of the seemingly elusive great gray owl.

I found its prey first, I meadow vole, on the corner of Sax Rd and Cranberry Lane. Not a bright idea for a vole to sit on the shoulder of the road when everything wants to eat you.

The morning was going pretty slow, when 15 sharptails appeared in the trees.

A shrike had to check out all the commotion.

I checked out to see if "Sniper" the hawk owl was still hunting Stickney Rd. Sure enough, same spot as usual. The Hwy 7 owl has disappeared.

And finally the Mr Great Gray showed up. Its probably been a week since I have located one. This owl really needs to learn about diving deeper in the snow. He missed whatever he was going for.

[JayinMN]

[MN Shutterbug]

Nice series, Jay. I especially love the photo where he appears to be headed straight towards you. Were you wearing a vole costume?

[Steve Foss]

Great stuff, Jay!

[NTW]

Awesome shots!

[Jari Razskazoff]

sweet pics, i hope you don't mind that i saved one of the owl flying pics as my desktop. Thanks!

[Jim Almquist]

Great shots Jay. I really like the owl in flight shots.

[Grant Pearson]

great shots

[Dbl]

Nice work, great variety!

[jonny_redhorse]

Wonderful photos Jay!.....the bog sure had a variety of critters on display!.....those sharpies are fantastic!...15 totaled!........the most I've seen so far is 10 at one time...

[Paul Izyk - toi]

Nice series, Jay. I especially love the photo where he appears to be headed straight towards you. Were you wearing a vole costume?

Yup i like the one flying Owl coming right at you... Awesome pics..

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Very nice stuff!

[Brooky]

Great stuff Jay. The Sharptails are my favorites..