In Search of Snowy Owls

Exploring Tide Pools in Acadia
Photo Credit: Marc Sweet

For the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day long-weekend, Marc and I decided to head up to Acadia again. We absolutely love this park and this place so much! Plus, this was a great excuse to visit with Joe and Hazel as well! So, we travelled halfway up Friday night and spent the very cold night in the Red Subaru (it's first sleepover with us in it)! Do not worry, we were toasty warm with a ton of blankets and our down blanket. Saturday morning, we travelled the rest of the way up and explored some tide-pools and Sand Beach of Acadia before meeting up with Joe and Hazel.

Even though it was not really snowy in Acadia, it was still super cold. Definitely had to bundle up and refrain from placing my hands and boots in the water!

Atlantic Ocean

Sand Beach, Acadia National Park

After a morning in Acadia, we travelled to Bar Harbor for some warm beverages. For dinner, we drove up to Cherryfield (about an hour northeast of Acadia) to meet up with Joe and Hazel. It was a fantastic reunion with these two! Their house is on a pond with gorgeous views! It turns out this world is small, as the landlord that they rent from is the mother of a climbing friend down in the Gunks! Super small world!

Hiking On Top of Sargent Mountain
Photo Credit: Marc Sweet

Anyways, back to the trip, the next day - we headed back down to Acadia in search for some Snowy Owls! Prior to the trip, Hazel had been posting these amazing photos of these beautiful white birds and when we decided to make our way to Maine, we thought it would be cool to ask Joe and Hazel on what they recommend they do. They suggested searching for Snowy Owls in the park and we, of course, accepted. So there we were, parking on the side of the road in the park and hiking up Sargent Mountain.

When we got to the top, we discovered that the top was super windy and cold. So for lunch, we hid behind some huge boulders and sipped some hot soup courtesy of Joe! And once we were done and warmed up, we began searching for the owls. 

Searching for Some Owls
Photo Credit: Marc Sweet

Now, on a normal winter day on top of Sargent Mountain, the mountain would be covered in snow. So trying to find a Snowy Owl would be hard. As the bird would totally camouflage in with the snow. However, that is not the case for our trip this weekend. There was NO SNOW up there. Joe said that if you scan the mountain top and you see a supposed snow patch, check again, that may be an owl.

Searching . Waiting . Wishing
Photo Credit: Marc Sweet

As we continued to scan the boulders, we would casually look behind us as well to scan. Since it was super windy, the owls may be hiding behind the boulders to shelter themselves from the wind. And of course, as soon as we would look behind a boulder...low and behold, a little fluffer of white was crouched down in a ball! 

A Snowy Owl

They look like little Furbies when they are crouched down. Once spotted, we attempted to move closer to get a better glimpse of the bird. As we did, we tried not to make a lot of noise so we did not spook it. But when we moved in a little too close, we made some noise and startled the bird. But watching the bird take off was the most amazing thing we had seen all day. I would have never guessed the size of this bird until I saw it fly in front of me.

The Take Off!

Remarkable!

The bird was huge! I could not believe its size. It was the most amazing moment to see. I am super glad that Marc was able to capture some images of its take off. 

In total, we saw about 2-3 owls that day. It was totally worth it hiking up and experiencing the cold and wind to see these animals. Amazing!

Checking out some of the frozen pools up top of the mountain.

Thank you Joe and Hazel for an amazing Acadia trip!