SNAPSHOT

“I ended up with a chilly, wet, and dirty rear end from taking this photo,” says photographer JOHN SHARKEY of Helena. “We were up at Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge north of Great Falls on the driving loop, in early December, when I spotted this great horned owl sitting on a rock, waiting for voles and mice to scurry across a little wetland draw. I got out and walked closer, stopping and waiting, then walking a bit more. Finally I sat down and scooted on my butt to get within about 30 yards.” Sharkey says he was struck by two things as he watched the large owl for the next half hour. “One was how delicately thin his ‘horns’ [ear tufts] were. The other was how colorful and well barred he was. Usually great horned owls are much grayer, but this one was especially beautiful. In most owl photographs they are looking right at you. What I like about this shot is that it shows the back of the bird. It’s not an angle you usually see.” ■