Snowy Owl
As predicted, early winter of 2013-14 has witnessed a widespread irruption of Snowy Owls from the Arctic to the Eastern seaboard of the United States. This particular owl (either a female or an immature bird) was perched near the runway at the Manassas Regional Airport in Northern Virginia, about 40 miles Southwest of Washington DC., on December 5, 2013. Alert birders may notice that there is also a hunting female Northern Harrier at top left in this photo.
At a distance of about 400 yards and in cloudy, somewhat misty conditions, I wasn't able to get a shot to compare in clarity with the one of a Snowy Owl at Dulles International Airport in January, 2006 (photo earlier in this Flickr collection) or the one in Sussex County, Delaware, in January, 2014 (photo is later in this gallery).
Snowy Owl
As predicted, early winter of 2013-14 has witnessed a widespread irruption of Snowy Owls from the Arctic to the Eastern seaboard of the United States. This particular owl (either a female or an immature bird) was perched near the runway at the Manassas Regional Airport in Northern Virginia, about 40 miles Southwest of Washington DC., on December 5, 2013. Alert birders may notice that there is also a hunting female Northern Harrier at top left in this photo.
At a distance of about 400 yards and in cloudy, somewhat misty conditions, I wasn't able to get a shot to compare in clarity with the one of a Snowy Owl at Dulles International Airport in January, 2006 (photo earlier in this Flickr collection) or the one in Sussex County, Delaware, in January, 2014 (photo is later in this gallery).