Another Magical Winter's Day

 "The clean, severe cold of the northland, tempered by the beaming sun and decorated by the pristine snow and the happy greens of the pines, spruces and balsams, produces a tingling, challenging awareness of life."

R.D. Lawrence

     Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) have an addictive effect on us and having seen the first of the year, there is an immediate impulse to go out and search for more.

      So it was that we headed back out into the countryside, as though in search of a holy grail. An avian holy grail, a mission with spiritual overtones. 

       If one could say that farm buildings had an air of contentment, winter would bring that out.

     Snow was all around us; winter is upon the land. Deciduous trees stand like sentinels.

     Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser), seemingly impervious to the weather, went about their business along the river.

     Winter driving is not for the faint of heart.

     Our first Snowy Owl, probably a juvenile bird given its heavy barring, was perched atop a silo, gazing down on an area no doubt well provisioned with rodent prey.

     The insulative value of the owl's feathers is miraculous to contemplate.

     

     The sun shone weakly; daily it will be higher in the sky imparting its warmth and promising brighter days to come.

     Forbs and grasses bend to the wind; but they are conserving energy and will rise again in spring.

     A young Mennonite boy took advantage of ideal weather to flood the hockey rink.

     In a scene as old as Canada itself the swoosh of skate against ice will soon be heard as the battle for the puck takes place.

     We spotted another Snowy Owl far off in a frozen field.

     Twilight was approaching and we left to go home. It was a fitting farewell.