I was standing maybe six feet away from this beautiful Snowy Owl (female or juvenile) in the Canadian Wilds area of the Calgary Zoo. It was sitting near the edge of a bank about five feet high, near the edge of the path through the aviary. At first, a slight hiss came from that partly open beak - obviously a little warning to not invade its territory. Then the owl became used to my presence.

Added on 22 December 2020: I used this photo for the cover of my 2008 calendar, which I made from scratch. printing out the photos and cerlox binding each copy.. No new calendars have been made since then - till a calendar for 2021.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Calgary Zoo Canadian Wilds area bird Owl Snowy Owl Nyctea scandiaca Bird of prey IMG_5724 annkelliott AnimalPlanet SuperShot AvianExcellence interestingness#154 explore2007November28

© All Rights Reserved

What a beautiful five and a half hours I spent this afternoon at the Calgary Zoo! My day started off at 9:15 a.m. with a birding walk at Inglwood Bird Sanctuary. It had snowed overnight and was snowing heavily for my long drive. Weather was awful, roads were awful, traffic was awful! Our walk was in a winter wonderland, but my photos don't even begin to do it justice! Around noon, I went straight from the Bird Sanctuary to the nearby Zoo and the weather changed to blue sky and sunshine. Headed straight to see the Snowy Owl family - mum, dad, and three of last year's youngsters. This is, of course, dad! I hope no one leaves a comment beneath this photo before I have a chance to say that it was taken in captivity!! I'm typing away frantically here. Yeah, I have a whole pile of photos with COLOUR/COLOR in them, so stay tuned, LOL!

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Calgary Zoo nature snow owl wildlife bird ornithology Snowy Owl SpecAnimal i500 interestingness#54 explore2007March21

© All Rights Reserved

'All grown up' On Black

I tried to get a closer photo of the one-eyed owl (the other two young ones were high in a tree), trying to avoid the injured side.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Calgary Zoo nature Snowy Owl

© All Rights Reserved

Another angle on this beautiful Snowy Owl at the Calgary Zoo. I'm pretty sure that this is one of the three young ones from last year.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Calgary Zoo nature wildlife bird ornithology Owl Snowy Owl Nyctea scandiaca annkelliott Canon S3 IS IMG_1001778 Talkaboutwildlife.ca

© All Rights Reserved

One of the Snowy Owls at the Calgary Zoo, seen in the aviary that is also home to Great Gray Owls and Barred Owls.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Calgary Zoo nature wildlife bird Owl Snowy Owl Nyctea scandiaca Panasonic DMC-FZ18 Panasonic FZ18 FZ18 P1010732 FZ18 annkelliott Bird of prey Talkaboutwildlife.ca

© All Rights Reserved