Hunting season was finally over at Amherst and weather was supposed to be sunny, so a trip to the Owl Woods was in order.

I called Bill (who volunteered to drive, nice wheels) and we planned the trip for Tuesday, December 13.  My first clue should have been December 13th.

Marina (www.marinascarrphotography.com) whom I’d been in contact with via email, we’re both members of BPN (www.birdphotographers.net) and friend Rick ( www.sarasotabirdingguide.com ).  Both are avid nature photographers.   They made the trip up from Florida and would be there that day.  It was nice to hook up and spend a bit of time with people who share a love of photography and birds.    Hope Wednesday and Thursday worked out for them.

The night before we left the weatherman changed his tune, instead of sunny with cloudy periods, we would get freezing rain locally and cloudy with sporadic rain in Kingston.  Should have been my second clue.

We left my home at 8am, not wanting to drive in the dark, in freezing rain.  It poured all the way down Hwy. 10, til we reached Kingston. We didn’t see a bird, no raptors, no crows, nada…should have been my third and final clue.

Caught the 11:30 boat to the island, spent the next 3 searching the Owl Woods, other than chickadee’s and a lone nuthatch …. not a thing.

We did manage to see a Northern Shrike, Roughlegged Hawks (both light and dark morphs), Harriers, Redtails and 1 lone Kestral.  Owls though were a different story..there were 5 Snowy Owls through out the Island in their usual haunts.

I came back with 36 images and all time low for Amherst.  Here’s the best.

Ciao for now…thanks Marina, Bill and Rick