Have you ever seen a snowy owl in person? Me either. But I’ve seen plenty of them, particularly this winter, on a Facebook group of Michigan birders. So last Friday, a college friend and I headed up to the thumb of Michigan where we thought we’d have a good chance of finding one.

It was a cold and grey day and the sky was a dead uninteresting color. Not a day I’d go out looking for photographs, but we were attempting to beat the snow headed our way.

We hadn’t seen each other in awhile and the first part of the trip was filled with lots of talking and catching up. And then, as we drove through farm country, I remembered we were supposed to be watching for owls. Big white owls.

My friend knows more about the birds than I do and she reminded me they would likely be sitting on a fence post, or a building or even in an open field, but not so much in the trees I was scanning.

We drove around a whole lot of country blocks but no owls were to be found. We even drove over to Midland, since we weren’t so far away, and checked out the Overlook Park where I’d seen eagles a few weeks before. No eagles. No pelicans. Nothing but a few deer.

So, mission not accomplished. But we had fun exploring and talking and laughing. So in the end it was a successful adventure, as adventures go.

And, if you want to see a snowy owl or two, head on over to Trent’s blog where he had an encounter last weekend. His images are outstanding!

As for us? We’ll keep our eyes open, scanning those rooftops. You never know, right? Some day, somewhere we’ll see a snowy owl. Or an eagle or pelican. Or something else exciting.

I guarantee it.