I’m a spy, an outsider
Armed with telephoto capability
Uninvited I stare
Insulated, from my car

A nine dollar ferry crossing- cash only
Brings me to you
Your all-you-can-eat buffet
And a taste of your wildness

Your golden eyes enchant

Haunt. Stare. Hunt.
Like ghosts you appear out of nowhere
When the sun sinks low in the sky

In the last 90 minutes of daylight
Suddenly your round white forms are everywhere
I lose count
And try not to slide off the road and into the water

Just for now you’re resting here
On this tiny island in the ocean-lake
By the dozens- look at you all!
How can this be?

How do you know to come here
After flying over parking lots, shopping malls, forests
Who whispers of this rural feast
Dinner squeaking and rustling under the grass

How do you know
Do you hear? Do you smell?
Is it passed down from your parents
Or told through screams and flight

You’re on your way home to a place
No human has ever seen
Mysterious, barren, cold
Ellesmere, Ungava, the eternal summer sun

So today I’ll sit with you
Slow my breath
Maybe you’ll habituate to my presence
In other words, forget about me

Maybe I can watch you in your world
For a few moments
Capture it without your permission
And keep it

Hold your image
Captive
In a box of wires and light
Keep you with me forever

The post Wild things appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Where did these mitts and I travel this month and what did we find?

Well, we spent a lot of time down by the north shore of Lake Ontario.   The ice formations there are spectacular!

Paper thin leaves of ice form on calm days.   Over time the ice piles up and the wind and waves build surreal sculptures.

Miraculously, this chilling landscape is home to some very resilient wildlife.

Snow buntings fly overhead in large flocks, chittering softly.   I managed to catch this one by itself for a little photo shoot.

Mute swans feed at the ice edges all winter long.   When it gets really cold, they tuck into a little ball and snuggle into their downy feathers.

I’ve had a couple of encounters with this young female Snowy Owl out on Gull Island.   She is perfectly at home floating around on the chunks of ice on the lake, watching the ducks float by.

Here she is surveying the breakfast menu at Presqu’ile Park.

Foxes can be seen running out on the ice searching for food.   This beauty was seen on Amherst Island, after it came to shore.

I also found this very hungry turkey feeding on sumach berries by the lakeshore.

I spent quite a few afternoons this January chasing sunsets.   I think winter skies are the moodiest and most fascinating skies we get all year.

I have a little glass ball (best $20 I have ever spent) that I have been playing around with to capture the sunsets in a different way.   If you look in the ball upside down, you will see the whole scene captured inside.  A little bit of fun with refraction.

Different day, different sunset.   Softer, cooler colours.   And speaking of cooler- I know my hands would have frozen without my snowy owl mittens this month.

Goodbye January!

Can’t wait to see what miracles February will bring.   Thanks for the mittens, Maria.

The post January Adventures With My Snowy Owl Mittens appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Here’s the ferry.   You can see my little Honda Civic on the left side.   The Frontenac 2 is the only ferry I know where you drive in forward, and have to back up and swing around to drive off.

I had heard reports of numerous Short Eared Owls over on Amherst Island.  As I began to drive the island roads, I looked for any movements or shapes up in trees.   There were 2 Wild Turkeys on the road, 2 Snowy Owls very far away sitting on hydro poles above sheep farms, and this hawk sitting in a tree with some other kind of birds dive bombing it.   I got out of the car, cold forgotten, and watched these birds, hoping they were “shorties.”  I could hear them calling to each other as well.  Here’s what it sounded like.(barking sounds)

I heard a call over to my right, and all of a sudden a shortie flew right over the road past where I was standing, with prey in its talons.

A quick look around with its piercing yellow eyes, and it flew across to eat in a big tree.

Mealtime.   As I was watching this spectacle, a couple of guys came along who told me that they had seen a short eared owl on the north side of the island.   I left this one to have its meal, and carried on.

As I was driving I saw this one flying around a field and then landing on a post.

As fluffed up as it was, this owl did not seem to mind the cold at all.   Did you know that Short Eared Owls live on every continent except Antarctica?   They must be very adaptable!

I have heard a lot about how these owls fly, but had never had a chance to watch until now.    Their small bodies and long wings make them buoyant and beautiful as they fly.

Here’s one of the last views I had of the owl, just as the sun was setting.    And just for a reality check…

Here’s where I fell into the ditch!  The snow was pretty deep.   Nice shot.

On my way back out to the ferry Snowy Owls started popping up where I had never seen them before.   As the sun goes down, these white ghostly owls come out to hunt.    Overall I believe I saw 6 Snowy Owls and 6 Short Eared Owls on my little safari to Amherst Island.

I made it to the 5:00 pm ferry, just as most of the light was going out of the sky.

As I looked back on Amherst Island I could see the shapes of silos, surrounded by the cranes they are using to build a new ferry dock facility.    A couple of dozen wind turbines are being constructed on Amherst over the next few years, and there is construction all over the island.  But that’s another story.

Amherst Island is only a 60 minute drive and a 20 minute boat cruise away from my house.   I sometimes wonder why I don’t go there more often.   It’s amazing.

The post Polar Vortex Car Safari to Amherst Island appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Spectacular!

I got down to Presqu’ile Park as the sun was rising and headed down the beach.   The day was calm and warm, so I knew the crossing to Gull Island would not be too crazy.

The water between Owen Point and Gull Island was still up to my knees, but with little wave action the crossing in chest waders was easy.

Halfway across the water I could see a lone Snowy Owl perched on a post, lit up by the rising sun.   That beautiful bird was only a hint of things to come.

As I walked through the water and drew closer to the island, I noticed two owls flying around on the near shore.   The younger one on the left moved towards the one on the right and made all kinds of bobbing and beak opening movements.

The other owl really wanted little to do with the young one, and flew to a perch nearby.

I really think they look like angels when they are landing.

As I finally stepped onto land on the island, I could see 6 Snowy Owls right from where I was standing.   Some were hidden, like this one who was hunkered down in an old Cormorant’s nest.

Some were right out in the open, bathing in the morning sun.   What a beautiful sight.

Speaking of bathing, I got to see two different owls taking baths in the calm waters of the lake.   The one above was surrounded by Snow Buntings as it flew and landed in the water.

I have never seen this behaviour before!   I watched fascinated as the owl dipped and bathed, perched in the shallow water on a small rock.

Every once in a while it would look around, the continue with its business.   I sat on the shore, as still as I could despite my excitement.

Later that same owl flew up onto one of the duck blinds on the island and began to try to regurgitate a pellet.   It looks like it is yelling or singing, but what it’s really doing is trying to make room for the big pellet to come out.   Since owls eat their prey whole, they have to get rid of the bones and fur and other hard parts of what they are eating in the form of a tightly packed pellet.   Snowy owl pellets I have found are around 10 cm long and 2 cm wide.

Not out yet!

Can you see two owls in this tree?

I was amazed how many of the owls were hanging out together in pairs.   In the past I have almost always seen them by themselves.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, and the white owls against the blue sky and blue lake looked stunning.

This one flew off to have a bath in the lake.   It came straight up from the shore and begin to shake and preen its wet feathers.

What a privilege to see these beautiful birds from the arctic.  This must have been one of my all time best mornings photographing wildlife.

I don’t know if these snowies will all stick around at Presqu’ile for the winter, but if they do there are plenty of voles and waterfowl for them to feast on.    Here’s hoping!

The post Spectacular Snowy Owl Sunday appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.