Friends, this Great Gray Owl flew out of a tree directly at me, at the last second he banked away and this image above was the result.  I think I ducked and he landed in the snow beside me, the image below was taken as he rested in the snow watching me, I wonder if he had been fed by the banders that in 2005 were roaming the bogs of Minnesota trying to determine the state of health of these birds that irrupted to the south.  Maybe he was expecting me to produce a mouse or other small rodent.  After a few seconds sitting on the ground, he flew back to his tree. Definitely a close encounter of the wildest kind, til Tomorrow MJ