Guiding the birdwatchers from Halland

I had hopes of finding the Great Grey Owl today so I got up early and headed out.

We received snow during the night so I decided to see if I could find tracks of any the Black Grouse lekking. I am not good at tracking, but the snow should work in my favor.

I started to search in the area where I saw the Black Grouse last weekend. I search for 30 minutes before I decided to move on to Ugglemossen. Here I found a group of three birdwatchers that had driven an hour from Varberg just to search for the Great Grey Owl. We talked for a couple of minutes before we decided that I would show them the whereabouts of the Western Capercaillie.

We found the brute and it was more at ease today. I took a couple of photos and it was nice to see the bird in its right element, with the snow on the ground.

Western Capercaillie, photo taken in Gothenburg

Western Capercaillie 120407

I soon left the birdwatchers and started to wander around. There wasn´t that much activity, but I feel that this photo is one of the better I´ve taken so far this year. I really like the way the Great Tit is sitting on the snowy branch together with the soft colors and the smooth bokeh.

Great Tit 120407

I am happy with the few shots I produced today and I really hope to find the Owl in the next couple of days. I am 100% sure that I was one of the first in Gothenburg to stumble upon the Great Grey Owl. It was a couple of days ago when I left the Capercaillie site and walk without much attention on my usual path. I then got startled by something huge that took two wing beats and then was gone. This happened just 200 meter from where the Owl was discovered the next day.

If I just had paid more attention that day.