Bald Eagles, red-tailed hawks, harriers, long-eared owls, short-eared owls and their prey are a common sight from the dikes of Boundary Bay in any season. In fact this is truly raptor heaven.

Particularly harsh arctic winters drive the massive Snowy Owl south and west in search of alternative food supplies. Many of these itinerant ookpiks end up in Boundary Bay feasting on fowl rather than their customary lemming diet. As you continue walking along the dikes 1½ km northward from the park entrance you'll notice a collection of greenhouses at the foot of 64th Street. On a good day careful scrutiny of the structures around the farm here may reveal as many as a couple dozen of the fluffy white raptors.

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Photographers Flock to Boundary Bay

Female Snowy Owls are generally larger with more brown-dappled colouring to blend in with their arctic tundra nesting sites. Nesting females exclusively incubate the eggs and guard and tend the chicks while the males concentrate on providing meat for the mother and hatchlings.

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Camera Shy: A fuzzy wuzzy ookpik peers out from behind a log as the "press corps" presses closer.

Depending on the severity of northern and inland weather, the season for viewing Snowy Owls typically extends from November to February though very few ookpiks may reach the coast during particularly balmy winters. The onset of global warming may make this ritual a thing of the past.

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In Flight: An ookpik investigates rodent rustles among the tangle of driftwood.

The hawks, harriers and short-eared owls will usually be quite active, patrolling the marsh lands on the ocean side of the dike for ripe rodent. Along the ditches on the opposite side of the dike scan for long-eared owls roosting in the shadows of bushes and trees. If quiet, you can expect to get as close as 2 metres to these slumbering guys. Photographers will want to use a flash with telephoto attachment.