TomKal foto

Although bird fascination should not discriminate or promote any particular species, for me, any encounter with owls is very special and stays in my memory for a long time. There are 13 owl species belonging to the Polish fauna. Till now, with various results, I managed to photograph 12 of them. For the past years I have been collecting information about different places where it is possible to photograph the Snowy Owl - my missing species in the list of Polish owl fauna. In Poland it has been observed only several dozen times. All my research regarding Snowy Owl photography workshops led me to Canada. The trip has been postponed several times for various reasons, but finally the decision was made and we agreed with Michal, that we are going in February 2020. The trip proved to be extreme, not only from a financial perspective, but also the workshop itself. Out of the 5 days of shooting, 2 were in extreme weather conditions. On one day the temperature dropped below -30C, while on the other day, even though it was -10C, it was very windy with heavy snowfall... in other words it was a snow storm. Spending a few hours at a time in such conditions is really exhausting, not too mention exchanging lenses without getting your camera sensor snowed-in. In such conditions we had to walk in search of the birds in snow up to our knees. This, in brief is the natural habitat of the Snowy Owl. After a struggle getting to the workshop (delayed flight, lost luggage, closed car rental), we finally made it at 5 in the morning (breakfast and debriefing scheduled for 6:15AM), and are ready for our first encounter with the Snowy Owl. Years of preparation are only multiplying our emotions, as we are supposed to photograph wild birds in their natural habitat, so nothing is guaranteed 100%. Snowy Owls are short distance migrants, and after raising their young, start their journey South, till they reach an area with abundance of rodents, which will let them survive the winter. Among other, this is the reason why they are so scars in Poland. About a century ago, when we had harsh and snowy winters, they were frequent visitors in large numbers. Today, however, due to climate changes, there are years without a single observation. Despite the cold, we leave our B&B at 7 AM, as it's still quite dark, excited and full of hope to see  the Owls and take our first pictures.  We are staying in an old house, that has been adapted for a Bed & Breakfast, mainly for photographers and workshop participants. In front of it, grows an old tree, on top of which we observe our first Snowy Owl - Caspar. The locals call him that way as he is almost pure white - like a ghost. We were told, that there are 7 owls in the area, however besides Caspar and one more owl they rather keep their distance. Basically all the pictures we took are of these two owls. Unfortunately, only a few of Caspar as he was often chased away by a very territorial, large and aggressive female. Only during such encounters we could here their voice. However, during our 5 day adventure it only happened 3 times, so unfortunately there was no chance to make a recording as it was impossible to have the microphone always ready... also due to the cold. During these few days, my fascination with these birds only grew. Despite all preparations, multi-layer clothing, we had to warm ourselves in the car after 2 hours of shooting when the temperature dropped below -30C. Meanwhile, the owls didn't seem to mind the weather. They sat on electricity posts and corn silos's, patiently waiting for a potential prey. Their senses are simply incredible, being able to spot a white mouse in the snow from a distance of a couple of hundreds meters. They are able to fly in absolute silence and strike with deadly precision. The owls were active in the early mornings and 2 hours before sunset. That repeated most of the days, however there were 2 days with very little activity, so we decided to look for other bird species. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful searching for the Great Grey Owl and the Northern Hawk Owl. To our surprise, it took us almost half a day to find an "active" bird feeder. "Active" as we saw many feeders, without any seeds, thus without any activity, which is a shame as practically every day, between the morning and evening sessions with the Snowy Owls we had time and could photograph other North American species, which are common locally but are exotic to us. This is the reason why, besides the Snowy Owl, we only have a few new species.

Despite this little "glitch" I consider this trip very successful as the Snowy Owl gallery is truly exceptional. All the organisational, travel and weather difficulties were easy to face if you have Michal (link) as your mate. Michal, all the best and thanks for everything. I don't think we will ever forget this trip. Even though we both travel often, this one was definitely different and extreme for may reasons...

Usually I try to keep my galleries in the limit of 24 pictures, ideally so they also include some dynamic shots. This time is different, as the trip took much more effort. We had 10 sessions with the Snow Owl, which allowed me to chose 102 images on my site and additionally prepare a presentation on YouTube, which you are more than welcome to watch (link).