Our first bird of the trip – a Snowy Owl at 11pm (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
It’s no secret that Snowy Owls are almost everywhere this winter. My friends and I went on a 5 day trip for New Years and were able to see 8 different owls without going out of our way! In fact the first bird of the trip was a Snowy I spotted along the Jones Beach Ocean Parkway perched at the top of a roadside cedar when I was turning my car around to go back for gas at 11:30pm (eBird checklist)! Snowy Owls come in a variety of plumage types, ranging from pure white to very heavily marked with bold black bars. Although I have seen a nice variety elsewhere during this irruption, on our trip we only encountered moderately-marked birds. Below is a sampling of some of the owls we saw.
The Snowy I was most excited to see – my first in Cape May County! Roosting along the dunes at Stone Harbor, NJ (eBird checklist). (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
Another view of the Stone Harbor Snowy Owl. (Photo by Alex Lamroeaux)
This Snowy Owl was roosting in the dunes at Jones Beach on Long Island (eBird checklist). We were also able to see him the next morning. (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
Another view of the Jones Beach owl (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
Another view of the Jones Beach owl (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
This Snowy Owl was along the Wildlife Drive at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in NJ (eBird checklist). (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
This very distant owl was perched in the marsh out from the Cedar Beach Marina on Long Island, NY (eBird checklist). (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)