BUBO SCANDIACUSSnowy Owl Photography
Snowy Owls are truly beautiful and captivating birds. There is something quite magical about scanning a vast, snow-covered prairie and eventually picking out a lone white shape in the distance. Most of my encounters have been in Canada, with further opportunities to photograph them in Wisconsin in the United States.
In my experience, Snowy Owls are very different to the remarkably tolerant Great Grey Owls. They can be extremely wary and easily disturbed, making good fieldcraft and patience particularly important. Driving through the Canadian prairies, an owl can suddenly take flight from the side of the road before you’ve even realised it was there. Their tendency to keep their distance and move on quickly can make getting good images particularly challenging.
That challenge is also part of what makes an encounter so rewarding. Many hours can be spent searching seemingly empty landscapes before eventually finding a bird, and I particularly enjoy creating images that show the owl within the vast winter environment as well as capturing closer portraits and natural behaviour.
As with all of my owl photography, I allow the bird to dictate the encounter and avoid unnecessary disturbance. All of the Snowy Owls in this collection were photographed ethically and without baiting.
The gallery below brings together some of my favourite Snowy Owl images from Canada and Wisconsin.
