Here are a few more images of the dark/heavily-marked  Snowy Owl at National Airport, taken from Gravelly Point, on Feb. 18. 2014.  This bird is most like a juvenile female.  The other, lighter-marked Snowy at the airport, has not been seen for some time. 

               I wonder how long these Snowy Owls will hang around.
         It's been such a big treat to have them here for the winter !!

Three distant (and kind of fuzzy) images of the darker of the two Snowy Owls now at National Airport. A bird this dark and heavily marked is probably a juvenile female owl.
    What a winter for Snowy Owls !!

Amazing Winter

This has been an an amazing winter here in Northern Virginia.   It has been colder, and the rivers have frozen more, than it has in decades.  This phenomenon has brought us both more and a greater variety of winter waterfowl than I can ever remember.  We have had Redhead, never a common bird on the Potomac River in large numbers. 

                                 Riverbend Park, Fairfax County. Virginia

Last week, I watched a huge raft of Redhead float down-river towards the rapids and then fly up-river,  only to float down again.    We have had multiple White-winged Scoters on the Potomac and nearby, which I have never seen before.

                                  Dangerfield Island, south of National Airport

There have been large rafts of Canvasbacks, at several locations.

                  Potomac River, Near Mount Vernon

There have been Common Goldeneye, seldom seen on the upper Potomac.

                          Riverbend Park, Fairfax County, Va.

And there has been lots of ice and frozen river. 

Just as amazingly, we have had an historic influx of Snowy Owls. A owl was seen multiple times  on buildings in Downtown Washington, until it finally got hit by a bus and taken to a rehab center. 

Two owls have been seen at National Airport for nearly a month now.

                     Gravelly Point, north of National Airport This one, the same as above, put on quite a show!

                      Gravelly Point, north of National Airport

There was, and still is, even a Snowy Owl at the local Springfield Mall.

                                      Springfield Mall parking lot.

                                                  Springfield Mall parking lot.

And, the winter is hardly over yet.   Stay tuned, and I'll try to post updates as they occur.