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!
After stopping by after work yesterday and not seeing any owls, there was already short-eared owls out and about when I arrived in the parking lot at around 5 p.m. today. Evidently they were out around 4:00 or prior to that busily hunting .
I could see the owl in the tree from the parking lot, but I like moving along. The owl stayed in the tree for a while.
Right after I started walking up the trail I saw one owl very close to the trail. Unfortunately I was not prepared and had my camera set around 1/500 or a second. The above photo has blurred wings but otherwise not too bad.
The above was also taken at 1/500 of a second.
It was getting too dark shortly after this photo above. There are two other kinds of owls at this location. A great horned owl had a lot to say tonight. We can’t get close to them at this location.
I believe at one point there were 4 short eared owls flying around in this one area of the trail. There were only 3-4 people photographing in this area. After yesterday I was thinking they may have left for Canada, but they are still here. This made my day. Have a great weekend!
I took these after 5 tonight. It was cloudy and started raining after I left, so it was dark. The first one is short eared-owl on a post that is cropped a lot.
This second picture was lightened a lot, but not cropped as much as the first picture. It landed on a post very close to where we could stand. This is the first year I have seen the short-eared owls land on posts.
Although the lighting is bad, I still enjoyed seeing them closer than I ever have before. I just wish they would come that close with better lighting conditions.
I decided to swing by the land I see these owls on before dark. It rained part of the day, but continued to look dark and dreary. The last two nights the owls only flew on the other end of the field. Tonight they flew closer. I was able to see them in flight, on a tree, and see one of the short-eared owls on a post.
The flight shots were grainy due to high ISO, but you cannot have everything.
I may try to go on the weekend, but luck has not been on my side on Saturdays or Sundays. The increase in the number of owl paparazzi on weekends keeps them at bay. Have a great weekend!
I went for a couple of hours to watch the short-eared owls again. This time from the viewing platform, which I usually stay away from. I was lucky they flew nearby, but not too close a few times.
They seemed to have come out earlier today than yesterday. It was before sunset started.
All pictures were taken with a zoom lens and are heavily cropped.
Tonight they spent a lot of time flying to the trees on the edge of the property, which are beyond the trails. It looked like there may have between 8-11. I wonder if it is a gathering before they head back up to northern Canada or the Arctic.
I am guessing they are just as curious at times about us as they do look in our direction. What do you think?
What do you do on a day off? Besides running some errands I also went to see how close the short-eared owls would come today.
It helped that is was a sunny day and not too windy. They came out at around sunset, so we all had a little bit of time to photography them. They were closer than I had seen them from early December through the beginning of February on Sundays, but not too close. These are all taken with a zoom lens and are heavily cropped. Squeeze in some time with nature and wildlife on your days off. Have a great week!
What may be a good time to find owls? It appears after a rainstorm at night. It seemed to rain much of the night here. They may have needed time during the day to hunt.
I found this one first. You cannot use the usually bluejays being ticked or chipmunks making noise to find them this year. There are a lack of those around as well as squirrels, which are all part of their diet. More hawks around I think is greatly culling the animal population.
This one’s mate was at a neighbouring tree not too far away. The mate is more stealth. If I cannot find him right away I give up and let him show himself to me on his terms.
After resting for a while, they started following each other around. One landed on a branch. When they other one tried to land on the same branch , the branch broke off and fell to the ground sending the owls in quick flight. The one owl was not putting up with having the other on the next branch it landed on. It forced them off.
So they ended up on the same tree. but different areas of it. I think they were wondering if they would see a sunset or another rainstorm. It ended up being another rainstorm.
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!
This tree had two visible holes, but the larger hole I did not think was large enough to host an owl that was egg sitting. After seeing an adult owl perched in the tree I realised it could. I also figured out there was another hole I could not view.
Not sure if this is a nest tree or the barred owl was just chilling. No wildlife seemed to spot this owl here so it seemed to be a good perching spot. I haven’t seen two owls together yet. I have not heard them calling to each other. It has been rather quiet this year in the woods. I am open to the belief this owl and its mate may be hanging out more on private property.
Despite that it was a cloudy morning, I was happy to spot this owl. The tell tale signs of the nearby wildlife being upset were not there. Looking at tree holes and knobs of branches helped today. Walk slow and appreciate nature.
I saw these when I went on a walk. They were very far away. I took these with a zoom lens and the images were heavily cropped. They are not sharp, but most likely the best I will get as I never see these owls up as close as I have seen snowies or barred owls. Maybe someday I will get lucky.
Get out an enjoy nature. There is a lot to see out there.
