A Good Winter for Snowy Owls?

Jeff Nicol, one of the photographers for our new book "The Nature of the Meadowlands," reports:

You would not believe what turned up Saturday night in the Mall parking lot in Kingston, N.Y., only a half hour from my house.

A Snowy Owl sat on top of an unlit light pole for 2 hours!

I raced up there and got to see it, along with several other birders, for over a half hour before it decided to move on.

I did not use flash on this shot. Tough to get anything in the dark like this. I put a blanket on the roof of my car to prop up the camera and keep it steady, then used 2-3 second shutter speeds (crazy slow) and cranked the ISO way, way up, hence the grainy appearance of the photo.

Out of about 20 shots, this is the only one that was not blurry!! Life bird for me, absolutely incredible to see :)

I think the photo came out pretty good considering it was dark, in a mostly dark parking lot.

A few of the lights nearby were on, which gave me just enough light, along with the slow shutter speed, to get this photo. (Thanks, Jeff!)

The Meadowlands was host to two Snowy Owls four years ago. Could we have a repeat? We'll be looking.