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Majestic white owls make a stop in Delta

Photographer shares photos of impressive large birds
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Snowy owl at Boundary Bay.

Video by Pascal Marchand. Subscribe to his YouTube channel.



Local photographer Pascal Marchand captured some great shots – and video – of snowy owls.

There have been abundant sighting of the white birds in the past month in the Boundary Bay area of Delta.

Snowy owls are large white owls native to the Arctic.

Boundary Bay is a major stopover for birds migrating on the Pacific Flyway.

Marchand heard about the owls via online forums and was stunned by the beauty of other photographers' images.

"I thought I could never get close enough to get decent shots," he said. "There are people with crazy equipment out there."

But on his first day out he encountered the owls all congregated in the same area.

"They were all so friendly and not shy at all," Marchand said. "I walked around the marshes all day and observed them as they hunted, sat in groups, and most of the time falling asleep while I was shooting them. They seemed pretty lazy!"

On his last day he finally got the flight action he wanted when two snowy owls battled in mid-air for about five minutes right in front of him, with Vancouver's North Shore mountains in the background. (See video above.)

Slideshow

Photos by Pascal Marchand.