Yes, 25 Snowy Owls. Kathy and Arn Slettebak, my wife Carleen and I went up to Vancouver BC for the weekend. We started out on Saturday at Boundary Bay at the end of 72 ST. We walked the dike to the east. The owls bunched up in the same area. We saw 6 together and several groups of 2 and 3. There were a total of 17 Snowies. We were a little mad at someone who kept walking closer and closer taking photos. He kept flushing the birds from their perches. There were also 3 Peregrine Falcons and a Short-eared Owl hunting the golf course just behind us. From there we went over to Reifel Bird Sanctuary and among other birds we saw a Northern Saw-whet Owl. We spent late afternoon walking the dike at Brunswick Point, just west of Ladner, where we saw another 8 Snowy Owls and one more Short-eared Owl. It was fun sharing our scopes with people walking by who had never had a good look at Snowy Owls before. Any begining birder who would have traveled with us would not believe that Snowies !
are rare birds to see. We also saw about 75-100 Bald Eagles. We counted 25 before we got to the turn off at 72 ST and there were 25 more sitting on the power lines in about a quarter mile section at Boundary Bay dike. We had great birding at Stanley Park on Sunday. On the way home today we went by the west 90 on the Samish Flats and saw two more Short-eared Owls. 30 owls for the weekend. It was a great trip with nice weather on Sat and Sun.

Neil Zimmerman
Brier, WA
n3zims at comcast.net