Christmas came a little early, and in a most spectacular way this year. As the long holiday weekend approached, I was contacted by a total stranger and told of a Snowy Owl near the Foss Reservoir in western Oklahoma. It was exciting news, and a bit magical since it came to me from an unknown source. But I was very busy with projects for my clients and I suspected that the owl would be an immature, similar to one I photographed last December. I spent some time juggling my client’s needs against the rarity of seeing another Snowy Owl in Oklahoma, albeit about 100 miles away. I made contact with someone who knew the bird’s location and decided to accept this holiday blessing — I headed west knowing I’d have less than an hour of daylight to find the owl.
I couldn’t find the bird, but thought I was in the right area. Another stranger stopped along the road and simply said, “Have you found it yet?” Wow! He knew what I was looking for and took me to the bird with the stipulation that I tell no one where the bird was located to spare it from being stressed by curious birders. The bird was completely white with no signs of black specs or brown feathers. Just a beautiful white owl, perched about 1/4 mile away. I stepped to cross the field and get a closer look when the bird flew into the woods and never returned. I had this remarkable bird sighting and didn’t take a single photo! But thanks to two strangers, I had seen a “Christmas Owl”… was this a Frank Capra movie?!)
I posted a message about the Snowy Owl on the OKBirds listserv and received some questions about it’s identity. What was a Snowy Owl doing perched in trees? (Their normal habitat is treeless.) Why did it spook so quickly from 1/4 mile away? (They are usually so docile they are easily harmed.) So I returned to the Foss Reservoir area the next day. I found the bird perched in the trees and took some photos, albeit from quite a distance, and sent them to my favorite bird expert, Jim Arterburn. It turns out this beautiful owl is a partial albino Barred Owl, a rarer sighting because of the albinism than the Snowy Owl would have been. This owl has dark eyes (the Snowy has yellow), the bill is light (the Snowy’s is black), and is in habitat common for Barred Owls who are quite numerous in Oklahoma. The bird would be considered a true albino if it had pink or red eyes.
I found another instance of a partial albino Barred Owl mistakenly identified as a Snowy Owl in the Duluth, Minnesota area last winter. I need to get clearer photos of the Foss owl, but through the spotting scope it shows no pigmentation in the feathers unlike the Duluth bird.
I’ll be heading to western Oklahoma tomorrow and hope to share new and better photos of this stunning bird. My Christmas Day is brighter thanks to the unexpected strangers who helped me find my Christmas present!
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