I saw one once, on the side of the road while I was driving. I live in Canada by the way. It's not that rare.
shareI saw one in Cumbria, UK in 1989 - it's many years (late 70s?) since they bred on Fetlar, Shetland Isles, Scotland.
shareEvery birder has that one bird that eludes him.
Snowy owls might not be special in canada (although you only saw 1), but in most other places where they don't breed, you can only see them by accident (i live in western europe and the only ones that get here are the ones that get stuck in ship cargos or something like that).
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NO! I have over 600 species on my ABA area list, and no Snowy Owl! Granted, I live in the Southwest, and I've never been in the right at the right time. I spend all my birding resources in the neo-tropics anyway.
I'll take Punctuality
They live around around here we even had a hockey team named after them in the 90's
This was the team logo
https://www.google.ca/search?q=harfang+de+beauport&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=iJQqVc7HIsaIsQS8lYEg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1680&bih=967
Yes, I've seen lots of snowys, actually, but I've only ever seen one great gray. That was a spectacular sight! Northern hawk owl is also pretty spectacular, as are long-eared owls and short-eared owls. I don't have any western owl species on my list, though.
share