Owl-Spotting In Frozen Canada

I had been longing to see snowy owls for a long time and have been waiting for the perfect place to start with.

- Sujith Gopinath

What better destination it could be besides Canada? This country is just amazing, one among the destinations rarely visited, where nature is at its pristine self. Who would not like to get lost in its beautiful roads, amazing landscapes, snowy mountain ranges, scenic winter highways and abundant wildlife? My excitement soared as I prepared to leave for this long-awaited trip in search of snowy owls of Canada.

After travelling for almost 36 hours from my home town Jalandhar to Saskatchewan, I was dead tired. I took a quick shower as soon as I reach the hotel and then went to sleep. I woke up at 2am and opened the curtains to see a beautiful blue tinge in the sky near the horizon, as if it were saying “Welcome to the great North”!

I was aware that I had only the weekend with me and it would be another year for a glimpse of the Snowy Owl if I miss the opportunity, I called my friend Marten, whom I had met in South America. He was going to help me find the owls. Being a biologist, Marten had studied about snowy owls. Luckily for me, the harsh -43 degrees had given way to a comfortable -19 degrees Celsius by the time I reached. He picked me up from the hotel at 6 am and we grabbed some supplies from a store on the way. We stopped at a beautiful town called Milden, for our breakfast and tea. It was still dark and we waited for some light so that we could start exploring. By the time there was some light, it started to snow and the temperature dropped continuously. Within a couple of hours, the temperature dropped to -31 deg. Was it going to be a bad day for me?