With clears skies and temps expected to reach almost 50F it was time to grab the bike and make a trip to Pointe Mouillee SGA. I hadn't been there since January, so I was a bit anxious to check on the
Snowy Owls that still reside there. As of last week as many as 7 birds had been seen. Waterfowl have returned, as well, so there'd be plenty to look for, including recently-reported Eurasian Wigeon and Snow Goose.
As I reached the southeast corner of Cell 3 I spotted another Snowy Owl perched on a large tractor. I spent about 30 minutes slowly approaching it a few steps at a time to try and digiscope it without spooking it. But again, the sun was directly behind it so I had to get around to the north to get a better view. With no other recourse I walked the bike slowly toward it without looking up (hoping it might ignore me), but it flew toward Cell 3 along the Lake Erie shoreline.
I would catch up to it and get a few digiscoped images from the dike as it rested on railings just inside the cell. I spent 15 minutes watching it before it decided to lift off and fly back to the tractor.
I then headed back toward the North Causeway along the east side of the Vermet. I spotted another Snowy Owl quietly perched on the rocks just south of the new half-dike jutting into Cell 4. I'm assuming that this was owl #2 that I ran into earlier, so I digiscoped it quietly from about 200 - 300 ft away. It eventually flew off to the edge of the half-dike where hopefully it'll remain unnoticed for the rest of the day.
I continued onto the North Causeway where I ran into angry-photo guy. I tried asking him how his day was going, but he ignored me and kept walking. Ouch. I quietly wished him a better day.
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