It was our last day of visiting Northern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog. A fellow my friend and I had met just the day before reached out mentioning a boreal owl someone had encountered the previous evening at a park in Duluth. Since our flight was departing Duluth bright and early the following morning, Matt and I opted to bid the bog farewell with enough sunlight to poke around a bit where the boreal owl had been encountered. Reaching the park around 4pm, we quickly realized how large it was and started laughing at the prospect of meeting a tiny boreal owl in this large woodland swath.
There were birders everywhere! Parting ways, we decided to just enjoy the forest without an agenda.
I sat along a frozen pond while my companion traipsed into the forest. After a few minutes, I heard his footsteps approaching. Matt gave me a big hug and showed me a picture of the beautiful little boreal owl he had just encountered! We climbed a hill to the spot where this owl slept, perched only feet above the ground a short distance away! It was unreal! I was completely overtaken by emotion. We sat in complete silence in awe of the situation until darkness began to creep in and our digits became numb.
This was a very powerful spiritual experience for us both. Prints of this image are not available for sale. Thank you for appreciating this beautiful creature!