Snowy owl? What snowy owl?

I went on a bird-chase today...

A Snowy Owl had been seen at Sandy Hook at the Jersey Shore recently...

I met up with three other birder friends...we walked, we talked, we took loads of pics...

We warmed up with some killdeer, ducks, snipe, a kingfisher at a local birding spot...it was great ...

And this white-tailed doe, laying in the tall grass, not saying a word.

But was there a Snowy in our future?

We loaded up the car ... we drove 90 minutes ... we hiked several miles across the beach ... we saw mergansers and sanderlings and long-tailed ducks and snow buntings and great-black-backed gulls ... but no Snowy Owl.

It was still an amazing day. Makes me glad to be alive. If you'd like to see my day in pictures, you can check out the first SEVEN shots on Flickr, starting right here.

I'm exhausted ... time for bed.

Ciao,
Debbi

PS: this image is not cropped or fiddled with in any way...