Every winter a few snowy owls come down out of the north and find places to settle in for the winter in the eastern US. One of the most famous sites to see this magnificent bird is Dulles Airport near Washington, DC, but it is not the only place.
This year a snowy owl has taken up residence near the towns of Bridgewater and Mt. Crawford in Virginia. And unlike at Dulles where the owl can be extremely far away, the Mt. Crawford owl can be seen relatively close without disturbing it.
It is known to roost in several places, mostly centered on the 7-11 and McDonald's at exit 240 off interstate I-81. We found it sitting on a giant light post in the Walmart terminal complex on December 22, 2017. Pretty good viewing but note that public access stops at the Walmart property so please do not trespass if you try and go to see the owl (and no parking on the public access road so you may have to walk a bit. I estimate we were no more than 200 yards from the bird and it gave us a very nice look as it was awake and just looking around while we were there (late afternoon).
This year a snowy owl has taken up residence near the towns of Bridgewater and Mt. Crawford in Virginia. And unlike at Dulles where the owl can be extremely far away, the Mt. Crawford owl can be seen relatively close without disturbing it.
It is known to roost in several places, mostly centered on the 7-11 and McDonald's at exit 240 off interstate I-81. We found it sitting on a giant light post in the Walmart terminal complex on December 22, 2017. Pretty good viewing but note that public access stops at the Walmart property so please do not trespass if you try and go to see the owl (and no parking on the public access road so you may have to walk a bit. I estimate we were no more than 200 yards from the bird and it gave us a very nice look as it was awake and just looking around while we were there (late afternoon).
Snowy owl on one of its favorite perches near Bridgewater/Mt. Crawford Virginia
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