Just Plain WOW Moment!

Out on my usual morning jaunt, imagine my joy at finding a Snowy Owl along a rural country road 15 minutes from my home in SW Minnesota! I was expecting to find fox or coyote on their predawn hunting excursions, but NOT this! This beautiful guy was soaring along the ravine flying parallel to my vehicle as I drove down the gravel road. We flew-drove side by side for almost 1/4 of a mile before he softly landed in an open field with his morning meal.

Because of the early light, it was a bit of a struggle as I played with shutter and ISO levels on my Nikon since I really didn't have my light except for his brilliant white showing through the morning murkiness. I sat there in my truck afraid to breathe and was almost afraid to move for fear he would take flight and there would be my moment of rapture gone in a flash! But, instead there we sat together, he with his breakfast in his talons, struggling to get free, and we both just sat there as the dawn emerged. After nearly an hour, he finally settled into enjoy his meal realizing I was not threatening or making any move to disrupt our safe distance between each other.

I didn't realize I was wiping my eyes as I was taking photos of him because I was crying with quiet joy at this stunning raptor staring back at me. I would think he was more wondering why is this person sitting there glaring at me, I'm eating breakfast! Huge Snowy Owl Sigh.