I've been keeping up with Ebird and all of the snowy owl sightings in WA. Phil has finally returned home for a few months, so I was able to leave him with the pups and drive two and a half hours to Ocean Shores to hike into Damon Point State Park and find them. When I arrived the wind was blowing something fierce and I ended up with lots of sand in my gear, eyes, and teeth! I searched for quite a while to find the owls where I was told they were hanging out, but I kept getting new information that had me hiking much further down the beach. I was fortunate enough to run into a gentleman who knew exactly where they were, and he led me to their location. Pure bliss when I finally got to see them, but I needed to spend a little time waiting for the light to change so it wasn't so harsh. Not a problem, I hiked on the other side of the peninsula where the wind wasn't so strong, and found numerous birds hanging out near shore! When the lighting changed, I made my way back to the owls in hopes of capturing a few nice images. I didn't want to get too close as to bother them, but they did get scared. After a few images, I started to hike back out so as not to stress them out and ran into Paul Bannick, author of The Owl and The Woodpecker, (beautiful book, check it out!). I learned from him that my skulking was actually a bad way to approach owls as they looked at me as though I were a predator. Always good to learn new information, so I will file it away for the next opportunity to photograph owls! I was ecstatic to finally get out and enjoy nature again without worrying about getting home to rescue Tobi from his crate. Phil will be home through August, so I have lots of plans to make up for lost time. If anyone wants to get together to bird or for a photo shoot, just let me know!