Very good, Grasshoppa...
Gee, this just sounds like an average day of shooting
Well what you poste here make for an excellent set, Matt. Along with the narrative I feel like I visited the place myself. Given you description of the situation you ended up with a nice shot of the owl. From a technical standpoint you can't get much better than the bushtit shot. And the shot of Mt.Baker is crazy good.
You're making the most out of that gear to be sure. All you need is available hours to spend in the field.