Another new owl for the year

Birding this past weekend was a bit difficult. Friday morning I woke up with a sharp pain in my neck, which eventually brought me to the emergency room. Anybody who knows me well will tell you that I don't admit pain or need of medical attention easily. (Two years ago I suffered from bi-weekly gall bladder attacks for almost 9 months before I went to a doctor and had it diagnosed.) Thankfully the doctor seemed to thing it was nothing more the a severe muscle spasm, and was prescribed Valium to relax the muscle and Vicadin for the pain. Unfortunately, that meant I had to cancel the trip I was leading Saturday for the Brookline and Menotomy Bird Clubs. I was pretty disappointed about that, as it seemed like I was going to get a quite a good turnout, including some new birders, which I always enjoy. Saturday dawned beautifully, and I was restricted to bed, and had every intention of being good and giving the muscles the rest they needed...

...until the phone rang, that is.

Not two miles from where I used to live in New Hampshire a Great Gray Owl had been spotted. Now this was not a life bird for me, but it was for Pamela, Paul & Diana, (and it was a Great Gray after all) so I doubled my dosages and off we went. (I actually considered sending them off without me, but not for long) And I'm glad I did because we got spectacular looks at the bird. And I have to admit, it was quite heartening to see that everybody there acted responsibly and kept a respectful distance from the bird. It seems to me that it might be a bit late for this bird to be around, and I wonder how long it has been in the area. The bird was not seen at all on Sunday, but it was refound again on Monday in the same general area of Dame Road in Durham, NH.


A few additional photos can be seen here.

On Sunday I was feeling a little bit better, and was going a bit stir-crazy stuck in the house, so Pam took me out for a little while and I got some of my best Snowy Owl photos so far, which I posted on the previous post. Gotta love a weekend when you get great looks and pics of owls!