We saw five big , beautiful, wonderful, Snowy Owls all at the same time at Damion Point in Ocean Shores this afternoon.? These were all juvenile birds ranging from almost white to very striped and they've learned to perch on drift logs and standing snags.? Today they were in? a clear area on the Western side of the point toward the ocean end.? Follow the beachto the right as you are headed out and the owls are on left after you pass a small pond.? If gull is there food of choice here, as some have suggested, then the Ocean Shore gulls are going to have a hard winter but there should be plenty of food for the owls without seriously depleting the worlds population of gulls so it seems to me that they have chosen a good over-wintering spot.?


Having said that, my concern is that they will abandon the spot if too many people show up to see them.? You can ID them as a white blob on a log with your eye and make a very positive ID with binoculars but for good looks you'll want a scope and a 300 to 500 mm lens for pictures? otherwise the temptation to get close up will be great. ? We came upon our first own sitting on a snag close by the beach and inadvertently discovered that they get nervous and fly at about 100 feet or more.? They don't fly far, just to a safer distance but the cumulative effect of people chasing around for closer looks might be more than they can handle.? I got good looks with the scope at 20x so if you don't have a scope even a 20x mini-scope for $60 and a mono-pod would allow you to stay further away and still get a good view.??

To me they are magical and the best life bird ever.? They came because of food stress; they don't seen to fly very fast and it's been a long trip from their native tundra. ? So, like a fall, what's great for us isn't necessarily good for them.? Still I'm very thankful to have seen them and? hope they all end up fat as pigs and safe home by next spring.?

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Ray Holden
Olympia, WA

Life is for the birds.