After several days of either heavy rains or strong winds it was much calmer weather today. One owl was nice enough to come out before sunset. I believe others came up later.
Last night they came out after sunset so the images were very grainy. I was happy one came out earlier tonight. Enjoy your week!
Little stinkers. They waited until any good light left to come out. One landed on this pole near the trail. I do not have a denoise program. Only an old version of Elements. Obviously I do not know what I am doing. I hope someday to take a course in photoshop or get a denoise program.
Regardless, I was happy to see them again. I just wish they would come up in good light. Have a great Wednesday!
I usually can only go on Sunday afternoons. Up until now this winter I have not seen short-eared owls, except at quite a distance. Tonight I saw them closer, but still not very close after sunset.
Weekends are not a good time to go. I have been going on Sundays since early December with little luck. It is crowded and people tend to be loud on the weekends, hence the owls stay far beyond the distance to take a decent photo. Not a good recipe for chances to see them up close. This was just after sunset. Here’s hoping I have better luck in the future.
Since the leaves are just starting to come in, this owl is still choosing to hang out on pine trees. Another day another pine tree.
This time some birds were aware the owl was there. Some were protesting, but they still kept a safe distance. The owl positioned itself next to a stream hoping for some wildlife to stop by and get a drink.
Leaves of trees between where I stood and the tree the owl was on are filling in. It is going to be tougher to find the owl soon. Here’s hoping I find this one’s tree hole.
Have a great week and I hope you have great weather!
The last man standing is the last person to be left doing something. It appears the other two owlets are hunting on their own. You only hear this owlet screech and boy does it screech loud. The owlets seem to make that noise when they are hungry. Many times I see the parents come by after they have screeched for a time period with food. It is still relying on the parents to feed it, so it’s the last one relying on the parents a lot for food. The parents are still bringing by insects and small animals to feed it. I have been worrying it seems to be taking this one longer than the others to hunt.
It is flying tree to tree, so that is a good sign. What do you think? Is it a late bloomer that needs more time or could it have an issue?
What do owls like to feed their babies? Multiple times I have seen them bring in a chipmunk.
Chipmunks give away the owls when they are in their vicinity by a noise they make. A good thing for the other creatures in the forest, but a bad thing for the chipmunk. He tells the owl exactly where he is.
This owl seemed to be happy to fly to more open trees around me and show me her catch. Her babies were nearby, but hiding behind leaves. I wanted to stay and see if she would feed them in front of me, something I have not had a good view of yet. However, a thunderstorm was approaching. I hope to witness breakfast of dinner in the future. Have a great weekend!
What do on your week off when you have a bad cold and don’t want to spread your germs? For me I spent the last two days of my vacation driving up and down rural roads looking at tree holes for owls.
One one rural road I kept hearing a call of a saw whet owl. I felt like it was teasing me. I have heard they usually hang out at our eye level, but I had no luck and was not going to walk on private property to search further. I did know the direction it was coming from.
On another rural road that I drove up and down searching the holes I found one occupied by a screech. Screech owls are very small. Notice they block almost the entire tree hole and blend in with the tree so they are hard to spot.
It was a very windy day and the clouds came in so the lighting conditions also were not optimal. It was hard to keep my camera steady and this was near the top of a high area. I hope to return to this spot in the future hoping the wind level is less.
When you can,
go slow and stop along the way. You never know what you will find on rural roads.
Sometimes you are at the right place at the right time. I have been following this nest on private property for several weeks now. I knew there were babies as one parent was always sitting in the nest. Then today… poof ….I see one adult perched on a neighbouring branch and two babies in the nest that look quite large.
I kept a distance. This is one owl you need to give a lot of space to. They will attack people who get too close. I took these with a zoom lens and they are heavily cropped. Get out and enjoy nature. You never know what you find in your own backyard or a friend’s backyard.
Sharon's Iconic Travel Photography Blog 