Another Big Year for Snowy Owls? Stay Tuned!

Snowy Owl sightings so far in November 2017, ebird map. Will this be another big year for Snowy Owls to come down into the U.S. possibly in big or record numbers? In some years Snowy Owls leave their far northern areas and come into this country in search of food, possibly because food is scarce in their usual area but also in years when there is a population boom. Some are saying there was a high population of owls on their nesting grounds this year, so possibly many may leave. Stay tuned and report your sightings to ebird. And keep your distance when photographing them so as not to disturb the owls!! My blog post below was done in December 2013 when a historic irruption was underway.

Snowy Owls can come down into the U.S. in possibly historic numbers in some years (note, all photos on this post taken with long telephotos lenses from a distance, mainly from a car, so as not to disturb the owl.)

We saw 9 Sat. on the NH and MA coasts. This one was sitting in a parking lot.

I love the soft feathers around the bill, all the better to keep it warm.

This owl preened

and sat in the wind.

 Grassy flat areas, dunes, marshes, and anything like its tundra home are the habitats these Snowy Owls seek out.

Here it is in front of a New Hampshire Parks vehicle.

There are actually two of then on this breakwater way out there.

Here's a closer view taken with the powerful telephoto lens (up to 4800mm) of the Canon SX 50.

There is a mega irruption of Snowy Owls coming down from their tundra areas taking place now, with reports flooding birding listserves across the northern parts of the U.S., southern Canada, and there has even been a Snowy Owl reported in Bermuda. Birders in St. John's, Newfoundland are seeing 150 Snowy Owls in a day. There more owls on the way and this could be a historic event. You can see a map of Snowy Owl sightings on ebird.

Saturday we saw 9 on the NH and MA Coasts, with birders reporting many more owls from those areas. Owls are showing up more in coastal areas but also some from inland. They are attracted to flat or rolling, grassy or marshy tundra-like habitats. We saw our owls in coastal dunes and marshes, but they can be in other places. There are Snowy Owls showing up at airports, and one was seen hunting the grounds of the Budweiser plant in Merrimack, NH. They can perch on buildings, rocks, houses and lamp posts overlooking favorable habitat. Keep your eyes open, they could be anywhere!

If you do see a Snowy Owl do several things:
* Report your sightings to ebird, the national database that tracks birds, so this event can be well documented.
* Do not get close to the owl to view or photograph it so as not to scare it away or harass it. These are birds that have left the far north because there is not enough food there. They are hungry and may be starving and need to conserve energy to hunt for food.
*Enjoy watching and appreciating these, usually rare, Snowy Owls for this is a special event. Some of these birds, unfortunately, may not make it if they do not find enough food.

Snowy Owls breed in the far north and in winter some come down into Canada and the northern half of the U.S. Sometimes when there is a food shortage in their usual areas, they may irrupt in large numbers and move south as they are doing now. They are diurnal hunters and eat lemmings and other small mammals and rodents, sometimes ducks and seabirds.
Male Snowy Owls are generally white overall with a suggestion of grayish barring. Females are heavily barred overall and young birds are the darkest of their sex with first year females being the darkest.

To learn more about Snowy Owls, and how to identify other birds (including all those you photograph!!) see our new field guides:

The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America contains over 3,400 bird photos (many of them from me and other top bird photographers) and is the most complete photographic guide to those birds ever done.

It is also available as eastern or western regional editions,

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Edition

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region

If you want to learn more about how to take photos with the Canon SX 50 Camera, go to my blog post here, where you can find out about my extensive tips.

Snowy Owls, Historic Irruption Underway Now!

Snowy Owls are coming down into the U.S. in possibly historic numbers. (note, all photos on this post taken with long telephotos lenses from a distance, mainly from a car, so as not to disturb the owl.)

We saw 9 Sat. on the NH and MA coasts. This one was sitting in a parking lot.

I love the soft feathers around the bill, all the better to keep it warm.

This owl preened

and sat in the wind.

 Grassy flat areas, dunes, marshes, and anything like its tundra home are the habitats these Snowy Owls seek out.

Here it is in front of a New Hampshire Parks vehicle.

There are actually two of then on this breakwater way out there.

Here's a closer view taken with the powerful telephoto lens (up to 4800mm) of the Canon SX 50.

There is a mega irruption of Snowy Owls coming down from their tundra areas taking place now, with reports flooding birding listserves across the northern parts of the U.S., southern Canada, and there has even been a Snowy Owl reported in Bermuda. Birders in St. John's, Newfoundland are seeing 150 Snowy Owls in a day. There more owls on the way and this could be a historic event. You can see a map of Snowy Owl sightings on ebird.

Saturday we saw 9 on the NH and MA Coasts, with birders reporting many more owls from those areas. Owls are showing up more in coastal areas but also some from inland. They are attracted to flat or rolling, grassy or marshy tundra-like habitats. We saw our owls in coastal dunes and marshes, but they can be in other places. There are Snowy Owls showing up at airports, and one was seen hunting the grounds of the Budweiser plant in Merrimack, NH. They can perch on buildings, rocks, houses and lamp posts overlooking favorable habitat. Keep your eyes open, they could be anywhere!

If you do see a Snowy Owl do several things:
* Report your sightings to ebird, the national database that tracks birds, so this event can be well documented.
* Do not get close to the owl to view or photograph it so as not to scare it away or harass it. These are birds that have left the far north because there is not enough food there. They are hungry and may be starving and need to conserve energy to hunt for food.
*Enjoy watching and appreciating these, usually rare, Snowy Owls for this is a special event. Some of these birds, unfortunately, may not make it if they do not find enough food.

Snowy Owls breed in the far north and in winter some come down into Canada and the northern half of the U.S. Sometimes when there is a food shortage in their usual areas, they may irrupt in large numbers and move south as they are doing now. They are diurnal hunters and eat lemmings and other small mammals and rodents, sometimes ducks and seabirds.
Male Snowy Owls are generally white overall with a suggestion of grayish barring. Females are heavily barred overall and young birds are the darkest of their sex with first year females being the darkest.

To learn more about Snowy Owls, and how to identify other birds (including all those you photograph!!) see our new field guides:

The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America contains over 3,400 bird photos (many of them from me and other top bird photographers) and is the most complete photographic guide to those birds ever done.

It is also available as eastern or western regional editions,

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Edition

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region

If you want to learn more about how to take photos with the Canon SX 50 Camera, go to my blog post here, where you can find out about my extensive tips.

NY City JFK Airport Now Shooting Snowy Owls!

Showy Owls are in the crosshairs at NY City Airports

The Port Authority has shot three of them so far.

Update, Tues., Dec. 10th.
Good news, since I wrote the blog post below, the NY Port Authority has changed its policy and will stop shooting the Snowy Owls and instead trap and remove them. Read my update here.

I was interviewed for a story in today's New York Daily News whose headline and tease is is "Hoot To Kill... Exclusive: Whooo'd be so cruel? Port Authority declares open season on adorable snowy "Harry Potter' owl at JFK airport." This is terrible news for Snowy Owls, especially when there may be a better, safer way to handle the issue that these magnificent birds, who leave their tundra home in times of food stress, seek out tundra-like habitat, such as airports, coastal dunes and fields in the lower U.S. I told the reporter that Boston's Logan Airport has a ace raptor bander, Norm Smith, who traps and removes the Snowy Owls who show up at Logan Airport, safely releasing the elsewhere. She did also interview Norm and there is a separate story on him in the paper.

The NY Port Authority gave permission for Snowy Owls to be exterminated at NY City airports and three have been shot so far. Owls are an issue for plane safety since they could be sucked into a plane engine. The news story has a quote "Even a wildlife specialist didn't understand why they were being killed because they are not part of a large population and they are easy to catch and relocate, unlike seagulls." Norm said that even though a Snowy Owl could get sucked into a jet engine,"its not like a flock of geese that is going to take out more than one engine and bring down a plane."

Snowy Owls are showing up in the U.S. in huge numbers this year and have been seen as far south as NC and Bermuda. These owls live in the tundra and must leave in winter when there is not enough food because of a drop in their prey (the lemming population) or there is a bumper crop of owls. They then irrupt south in large numbers and seek out tundra-like habitat and hope to find things they can eat like rodents, waterfowl, etc. Don and I saw 9 on the NH Coast on Nov. 30th, and I got the above photos taken from a distance in a car. See my blog post and more photos on the Snowy Owls here.

Birders across much of the eastern part of the country are being thrilled at seeing Snowy Owls, a lifer for many. One issue has been to educate people to keep a respectful distance from the owls for observing or photography, so as not to disturb them as they need to conserve energy and hunt for food. Now this! When are we going to be more sensitive to the needs of wildlife and find win-win solutions when the presence of wildlife may come in conflict with human needs.

Barred Owl, "Who-Cooks-For-You"

Barred Owl

This Barred Owl was recently sitting in back of a neighbor's, warming itself in the morning sun. We have seen it in our west woods, during breeding time, perhaps it's the same owl. Sometimes people confuse this big owl with a Barn Owl or Snowy Owl, who are paler and have white faces. Barred Owls are widespread across much of the eastern half and northwest quarter of the country and much of Canada. It's one of the most vocal of the owls, know for it's "who-c00ks-for-you" hooting sound, but it can make other noises as well.

I remember one Christmas Bird Count years ago when Don and I went out late at night to listen for owls. We were standing next to our car on a quiet road when, out of the blue, we heard this enormous scream over our heads, making the hair on the back of our necks stand up. We ducked down, bewildered. The next sound we heard was "who-cooks-for-you," the familiar hooting of a Barred Owl, who we realized had made the scream. Whew!

Listen to Bared Owl sounds on your Stokes Field Guide To Bird Songs CDs.

Snowy Owl love!

Snowy Owl

Who doesn't love Snowy Owls? These big beautiful owls come down in winter to mainly the northern U.S. from their far north arctic tundra breeding range. They go to favorable open habitats where they can find voles. This one was seen on the NH coast in a state park several years ago. Look for them in coastal and open habitats.

Review: The Big Year Movie, 2 Wings Up

Prothonotary Warbler, is seen in the movie at High Island

Just went to see the comedy, The Big Year movie, about a birding competition starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. Bottom line, I liked it, go see it.

Basically it's a movie about competition and relationships, set against the backdrop of birding.

3 guys are vying for who can see the most species of birds in a year. As a comedy it's more occasional chuckles than laughs. There are touching moments, adventures, and each guy emerges with an acceptance of who they are or have become. There is far, far, too little footage of birds shown, but at least they show some birds, even sometimes accurately depicted as to correct species in correct habitat. It does show birding in real birding locations.

If you're a birder I hope you see a little bit of yourself in the movie and remember the passion that made you become a birder in the first place, the adventures you've had, and the birds you've seen or want to see.

If you're not a birder, it will introduce you to what birding can be like, especially when taken to it's extreme. I hope it makes you want to pick up binoculars and go places to see amazing birds.

Just like the title of the song says, that plays at the end of the movie during the rolling credits while numerous photos of birds flash on the screen — "This Can All Be Yours Someday". We hope it does.

We won't give too much away, and not everyone will like this movie, (the story line is fragmented, there are lame moments, and birders will find the inaccuracies) but keep and open mind and go and have fun.

Some of my favorites scenes,

Of Birds -

Footage of Bald Eagles locking talons and sky falling

Great Gray Owl in snow storm

Snowy Owl coming at camera

Multiple individual species seen in bird "fall out" at High island, such as the Prothonotary Warbler pictured above

People -

Steve Martin, as Stu, holding his grandson, who you know will become a birder thanks to grandpa (hey, how do you think birders are often made?)

The two (won't tell you who) who become a couple at up the end, birding brought them together. That's awesome. We know, because birding brought Lillian and Don Stokes together.

Canon SX 50 HS for Bird Photography: I love this camera!

Hi there, 

Great News, my The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada (with coauthor Matt Young) published Sept. 2024 and named one of the BEST BIRD BOOK of the year by ABA is now available, BUY NOW, CLICK HERE. 

It's all things finch for all bird lovers! It has 353 stunningly beautiful photos from top bird photographers, some full page. 91 million people feed finches at their feeders, if you are one of them, this book is for you!

2025, MY ten pages of tips are still available, email me, email is at the top right of the page. If you are reading this here's what you need to know.

1. The Canon SX 50 is still better than the new Canon SX 60 and I have both cameras. I still think the SX 50 is a great camera. If you can, get the Canon SX 50. A good used or refurbished one is worth it. Canon now has the SX 70 and I have not gotten it. From what I hear it is still not as good as the SX 50. Read more here,

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/62061542

2. I will still give you my 10 pages of very extensive tips on how to use the SX 50 for bird photography if you email me for them. They are much better than the manual for learning how to photograph birds. My email is on the top right of this page. I have given my tips to thousands of people all across the world. My tips are much more extensive than this blog post and will help you much more than the SX 50 manual.

3. If you bought the Canon SX 60, some of my tips for the SX 50 will help you. The Canon SX 60 does not produce as sharp photos at full telephoto extension and Sports Mode does not work as well as with the Canon SX 50. See my review of the SX 60 here.

4. You need to ID what you photograph and our photographic guides are the best help, so get now 

The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds, eastern edition 

or The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds, western edition.

Here are a few sample photos I took recently with the Canon SX 50.

American White Pelicans

Snowy Egret

Mottled Ducks

Pied-billed Grebe

Here is a Dark-eyed Junco in my crabapple tree. Photo is untouched except for cropping.

I'm Lillian Stokes, prominent American bird author and photographer who, along with my husband Don, have written 35 best-selling books on birds and nature including the best-selling and one of the most comprehensive national photographic field guides ever written, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Also available are the regional east/west editions of this mentioned above.

News Flash: My new book, The Stokes Essential Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America was recently published! It has fantastic large photos and covers 250 North American bird species. At just the right size, you can slip it in your pocket when you go out to photograph birds. Get this book, it is perfect for beginning and intermediate birders. Amazingly, two of the main photos in this book were taken with my Canon SX 50! Here they are, this Western Kingbird and this House Wren.

Western Kingbird

House Wren

By the way, Canon does not pay me to say nice things about the SX 50 and I am not paid by Canon to endorse this camera. I just happen to have gotten the camera, like it, and want to tell you about it you so you will come to enjoy birds and photography because of this camera. The more people become attached to birds the more they will want to conserve them. Over 130,000 viewers have read my original post and then thousands have gotten this camera and are enjoying it. This camera has converted many people to bird enthusiasts.

The information below is all about the Canon SX 50 HS. 
Just for fun, here is a photo I took in winter with the Canon SX 50, from a car, of a preening Snowy Owl on the NH coast.

Here's my Original Post written Feb. 1, 2013,

Warning! Reading this blog post could cost you money. I just got the new Canon SX 50 HS point and shoot super-zoom camera and I love it. It's in my right hand, my Canon 1D Mark IV with the 300mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter is in my left hand. The SX 50 HS has a 12.1 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, DIGIC 5 image processor, image stabilization, ISO 80-6400. The focal length when optical and digital zoom are combined is as follows (35 mm equivalent) 24-4800 mm (24-1200mm with optical zoom alone.) It can shoot RAW. Here are some of the reasons why I like the SX 50 HS.

It shoots birds in flight fairly easily in Sports Mode, as I found out yesterday when I tried it out on Brown Pelicans and got this photo.

Or how about this photo of a White Pelican I took recently.

Recently I took the Canon SX 50 for a test spin to Harn's Marsh in FL. See the ducks in the pond near the far shore?

Here are the ducks zoomed in a little closer, they look like black spots.

Now here are the Ring-necked Ducks photographed with the lens zoomed all the way in, past the optical zoom range, into digital zoom of 200x. Camera was set on Smart Auto photo is untouched.

There were a number of other birds that were just too far away for my other DSLR cameras, such as this Limpkin in the far cattails.

The Limpkin was preening then stretched. 

This Black-crowned Night-Heron was way out of the reach of my usual cameras. There is something immensely fun and powerful in being able to zoom in on very distant birds and get a photo.

The camera has a great ability just set on Smart Auto and people should have little problem photographing close, or relative close, birds in decent light. The harder part is hand holding the camera still when you are zoomed all the way, or a good part of the way, in on a bird. Many people may not want to or be able to do this, but that is where the fun is for me. 

Here is my tip for steadying the camera while hand holding and shooting with the lens zoomed in closer on the bird. To steady the camera look through the viewfinder with the camera braced against your head. Do not shoot while looking through the back screen. Hold the barrel of the lens with your hand all the way out on the barrel and tuck your elbows against your body, making a tripod of your body. Try to hold as still as possible. Depress the shutter halfway to focus on the bird, then take the photo quickly. If you then lose the bird in the viewfinder,  zoom back out to give you just a wide enough field of view to find the bird again, zoom in, then get the bird in focus and take another photo. 

To refined a bird you lost in the viewfinder, you can also use the uppermost button on the left had side of the camera near the base of the lens for Framing Assist-Seek. Hold this button down and the camera zooms out, allowing you to find and reacquire the subject. Take multiple photos, some shots will be sharper than others.

Another place we went recently was the Bailey Tract on Sanibel. See the Wilson's Snipe on the far shore?

Here it is with the camera zoomed in to 200x.

The Mottled Duck was closer than the snipe, see the dot in front of the island? I am standing on the bank taking the photo with the camera on 24mm.

Here is the Mottled Duck taken with camera on Smart Auto and the photo only slightly sharpened in photoshop.

There were Gulf Fritillary butterflies at my feet and it was so cool to be be able to take their photo as well as the distant birds.

The view from my back deck in my FL home. See the eagle?

Oh, here it is with the camera zoomed in... 

Here it is zoomed even closer. 

Note, with many of these photos I have pushed the camera to its limit at 200x, and at this range, photo quality drops. I have steady hands so for me, it's fun to zoom all the way.

To get good photos, use the camera in good light and keep it in the optical zoom range of 24-1200 mm. This camera does best in good light and photo quality diminishes in low light. If you are really not steady, you could use the camera on a tripod, but I do not advise this. 

To zoom closer to the bird, use the Digital Zoom which lets you apply up to 1.5 or 2x (up to 2400mm) worth of digital zoom beyond the optical zoom with a minimum drop in image quality, sort of like applying a 1.5 or 2x teleconverter. To access this feature on the regular camera menu, set the camera to AV or P mode and scroll down to where it says Digital Zoom and your choices are to set it at Off, 1.5x, 2.0x or Standard. Standard lets you zoom all the way in 200x, but there will be a loss of image quality at this far range. You can also use the "Framing Lock" button (on the bottom of the lens barrel) which helps stabilize the image when you take it.

At these extreme zoom ranges, such as 200x, the photo quality is not usable for many things such as fine prints. However, for use on blogs, a facebook page, etc., and the internet, which only require photos of 72 dpi, these photos may be usable. Most of these photos I took had minimal processing just a little sharpening in photoshop. Images shot closer, at lower ISO and within the optical range would be much better. I mainly wanted to show some of the extreme things this camera is capable of.

Don't get me wrong. The Canon SX 50 HS does not produce the same quality images that DSLR cameras do and you should consider purchasing these if you want high-quality images. I really like my Canon 1D Mark IV, shown here, and I have gotten incredible photos with it, many used in our national field guide, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America and our just published regional guides based on the national guide, The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern and Western Region. I now use use the Canon 1D X or my new Canon 7D Mark II with a Canon 100-400 IS II lens or my Canon 500mm IS lens with 1.4 teleconverter, Gitzo 1325 Carbon Fiber Tripod and Whimberley head. The Canon SX 50 is not in the same league with the big, professional, or near professional DSLR equipment. Then again, it costs around $430 vs. the Canon 1D Mark IV originally cost around $5,000. 

At Harn's Marsh I had my Mark IV with the 300 mm lens with 1.4x and in seconds got this Harrier shot. I could not have gotten this with the SX 50.

There is nothing like the thrill and adreneline rush of capturing something like this Osprey with fish with pro equipment. You photographers with similar equipment who are reading this know what I mean.

However, the Canon SX 50 HS can make decent bird photographs within the reach of even a novice bird photographer just by shooting on Smart Auto, then Sports Mode for birds in flight. You can do even better if you learn to use it in AV mode. In the hands of more experienced photographers, it can provide great fun and the ability to capture good bird photos, even when birds are impossibly far away. It will make getting record shots of birds more possible because the reach of the camera is so great. It may convert many to bird photographers/birders and give them a love for and appreciation of birds. That would be a great thing.

It is interesting to me that just about every birder, experienced bird photographer, or novice birder/photographer I have shown this camera to in the last week has said they want one. The light weight of the camera and the ability to zoom in so close on a bird just blows people away.

There is so much more to say about this camera which does so many things. If you want my much, much, more extensive tips on this camera, including what setting to use and info. on bird photography, email me. Email link is on top right of this blog.


Make sure and read the complete original reviews here at,

DPREVIEW

and

photographyblog.com

Here are some of my basic tips.

- Start with Smart Auto, especially if you are a beginner. It is excellent for many situations, especially if there is good light and the bird is not moving very fast. It may overexpose white birds.

- For flying or fast-moving birds, or even birds in vegetation especially if they pause, choose Sports Mode which shoots at about 5 frames a second. The camera chooses the exposure for you. In this mode, you can use Exposure Compensation which allows you to adjust for an over or under-exposed photo. If the bird you are photographing appears too light, or too dark, go to the Exposure Compensation setting (looks like a ruler) and move the indicator to the plus side to lighten the photo or to the minus side to darken the photo. I use this Sports Mode setting frequently, even for warblers! 

- For more control over photos, use Aperture Priority (AV). You choose the aperture and the camera picks the shutter speed. The range is F3.4-F8. I often use this mode and set ISO and Exposure Compensation as needed. Make sure you set the "Continuous Shooting" menus choice in AV to give you a faster shooting speed of about 2.2 frames a sec. Some people use Program Mode (P), where the camera sets the aperture and shutter speed for you and there is access to all the same menu options that are available in AV. I prefer AV since you can still set the aperture here. Most bird photographers I know use AV.

- Even though this camera shoots, RAW, I do not use it that much as most of the photos I take are for use on the internet, which uses lower resolution .jpeg images.

- You must read the manual, which you download to your computer as a PDF. Read it multiple times and learn all the dials and how to set the camera functions.

However, as I said, if you have this camera and want my much more extensive tips on how to use it, email me. Email link is on top right of this blog. The manual won't help you know which setting to use for bird photography.

If you are interested in photographing birds you need to accurately identify the birds you photograph, so get our photographic field guides. Our guides have outstanding bird photos taken by the top bird photographers in North America, look at them for inspiration and learning! 

The Stokes Essential Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America, is great for beginners  BUY Now! click here. So handy you can slip it in your pocket.

The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, the most complete photo guide available, which contains 3,500 stunning photos (many of them from me and other top bird photographers).

Buy Now! The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America

It is also available as split into portable, regional guides,

Buy Now! The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region

Buy Now! The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region

These beautiful photographic guides are the best way to identify all the bird photos you take!! 

Practice and most of all, have fun!!!

Lillian Stokes