The peace of a prairie farm - my main photo today

This photo and the next one (a distant Snowy Owl) were taken yesterday, 21 January 2017. The previous evening, I had been out at a get-together/meeting with various birding people. Friend, Pam, and I made plans to meet the following morning and then I would follow her in my own car to a planned destination. It was a drive that I had never dared to do before and, though I had been to this location several times over the years, it was always by carpooling. I was so grateful to be able to follow someone, and see how to get there.

Once we reached our destination, we found out that the bird we had hoped to see, was not there. So many people have been to see this Long-eared Owl, but this was the first time I had been. Various people came and went, but no-one was having any luck. Some accounts were saying that 50 or 75 people had been seen on such and such day, and that some people were stressing out the bird by getting too close. This always happens, with news spreading like wildfire, and some people go day after day. While most photographers are respectful, there are always a few who will do anything to get "the" photo - closer and better than anyone else's. I should add that there was also a Great Horned Owl in the area, so I guess it's possible that that is keeping the Long-eared Owl further away or more carefully hidden.

After a short while, Pam and I decided to drive round a few other roads, taking my car. The hope was to maybe find a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl somewhere. Totally out of luck, except for one very distant Snowy Owl, seen in my next photo, that Pam spotted. It was gleaming white in the sunshine. So beautiful to see and so much appreciated.

Of course, no drive is complete unless I see a beautiful old barn, and we found two or three that made us stop and take a shot or two. I really liked this one - difficult to tell if it's a fairly new one or an old one that has been renovated. I suspect the latter. As you can see, we had such beautiful weather this day.

On the way home, we called in briefly at the first owl location again, just to check if it had been seen while we were driving other roads, but no one had had any luck. After leaving, I followed Pam part of the way home, not realizing that she was going to turn off on to Deerfoot Trail - a road I always avoid, as it's a dangerous road. I hadn't seen the sign that said Deerfoot, so there I was, heading home along this fast-moving highway. All turned out well, though.