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While preparing an article this week for a local newspaper on the nighttime denizens of Tobago, it crossed my mind that I never considered owls as a group, far less target species for any particular outing (except for a select few, upon which I shall expound here). involve owls. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl.
For many birders, the Pel’s Fishing Owl roosts in a lofty position on just such a list. One of the most highly desirable birds in the world, the Pel’s Fishing Owl is a true phantom. Found patchily in sub-Saharan Africa, this large, ginger-colored owl can never be guaranteed on a trip to the continent.
.” My question that I hope you can help me with is what would be considered a safe distance to photograph Northern Saw-what Owls? Would this be considered a threat to these owls?” First I applaud the photographer for actually asking the question of how close to get to a Saw-whet Owl. Six feet from a saw-whet?
There are birds more prized by North American birders than the Great Gray Owl , but not many*. Like many cold-weather creatures, the Great Gray Owl can to some extent trade altitude for latitude. We made our way to the spot that the owl had, according to our guides, last been seen. The owl wasn’t there.
Still, I contacted a local guide and shot for the moon: “Can you show me any owls”? The Brown Fish Owl is the most common of all Fish Owls. This D usky Eagle Owl is blind on one eye but still seems to be doing ok. This D usky Eagle Owl is blind on one eye but still seems to be doing ok.
An Imposing Great Gray Owl, by Carlos Sanchez. Great Gray Owl , Northern Hawk Owl , Snowy Owl – this trinity captures the imagination of most birders with their imposing presence, unique adaptations, and beauty as among the most desired species of bird to see in the world.
Sunday morning dawned clear and cool, perfect weather in which to find some owls. Sunrise found me in a car with Rich Kelly and Seth Ausubel, on our way to Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx where we would be joined by Bob Dieterich and Gene Herskovics for an owl prowl. One owl down, two to go! We still needed Barred Owl !
Western Screech-Owl ( Megascops kennicottii ) photos by Larry Jordan It’s been an interesting winter in my neck of the woods. Personally, I’m waiting for the irruption of Snowy Owls to reach northern California! Once the Jays moved on, the owl closed its eyes and went back to sleep, seemingly unconcerned with our presence.
We are lucky enough here in Broome to have a pair of Barking Owls that have chosen to roost in town. Over the years there have been Barking Owls observed in the Town Beach area and the Courthouse gardens and we have heard them “barking” at home as well. Barking Owls. Barking Owls -puffed out throat!
Owls are among the birds with the greatest power to fascinate non-birders, for good and ill. One such person is Scott Rashid, who early in his tome The Great Horned Owl: An In-Depth Study recounts his own first owl sighting at the age of sixteen. The Great Horned Owl: An In-Depth Study is available now from Schiffer Publishing.
When he reached out to ask if he could contribute a piece to 10,000 Birds about about the ethics around the current Snowy Owl irruption in the central and eastern United States we were all for it! “In In support of the Snowys I will not be liking any more Snowy Owl photos.”. Snowy Owls have value. Species have value.
One of the highlights of birding in this Texas state park is the chance to see five owl species that breed here. This is made even sweeter by the hope of seeing two extremely rare US visitors – the Mottled Owl and the Stygian Owl. Let’s enjoy the owls of Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Eastern Screech-Owl.
Hours of available hunting are low and temperatures are extremely low. Owls do particularly well here, the long nights actually working in their favour by increasing hunting time. It’s a miracle that anything can find sustenance and survive here. That said… Source
For their size, they seem incredibly brave, fearlessly hunting worms (I coincidentally always seem to be catching them hunting minutes after mowing the lawn) with determination. Finally: my favorite bird of all time definitely is the owl. I’m absolutely smitten with owls, regardless of their species.
Just yesterday I learned that the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ) is the only breeding bird found in New York that has been documented nesting in every month of the year. Barn Owls will nest year round and are apparently just as happy to use brick ruins as barns, if this 18th-century painting is to be believed. Barn Owls with their Brood (c.
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for owls. Wander through my front door and glance upwards and you’ll find at least two watching you, a Tawny Owl and a Barn Owl , both sadly gathered as roadkills. Above our fireplace is a large painting of a Barn Owl.
I waited until now to post about the owl because the small size of the marsh at Plum Beach and the ease with which people can get into the marsh made it likely that if the owl’s location had been publicized it would have faced repeated disturbances from those hoping to see or photograph it. How cool is that?
Abbotts Lagoon welcomes the night and so do Burrowing Owls. Searching for Golden Gate Great Horned Owls. Red-tailed Hawks often hunt through dusk in San Francisco. Owling anyone? A kelp mound looms during the search for Sanderlings in Point Reyes. Varied Thrush habitat on Mount Tamalpais. Many, many, many flowers.
Now that I have driven that to a state of relative completion and I am compelled to return to the forest, I learned that the government here has re-opened the hunting season. After experiencing the ebb and flow of energies over the years with the coming and going of the annual five month long hunting season, the strain is plain for me to see.
Many are familiar with dissecting owl pellets, but several birds will caste a pellet including hawks, eagles, gulls, herons and heck, I once witnessed a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher hack up a small one. Above is a pellet from one of a pair of Great Horned Owls that nested a few blocks from my apartment.
I thought for sure that Wild Turkeys on the wing would be the highlight of my birding weekend, but that we before I came upon a Barred Owl in broad daylight perched on a power line in Alma, NY. Apparently, this winter warrior has hunted the same farm field from the same vantage point for a couple of weeks now.
With the proposed hunting seasons on sandhill cranes being discussed in Tennessee, Kentucky and Wisconsin, we must not forget the whooping crane, which travels and winters in the big sandhill crane flocks. More states will doubtless join the queue of those proposing hunts. Another thing to consider. Now, it’s time to go to the top.
A family of owls, affectionately called the Potted Plant Owls have taken up residence in a potted plant on the the balcony of South African couple Allen and Tracy. Their natural habitat is under threat, as housing developers plan to build on the neighboring wetland, effectively destroying the owls’ remaining hunting ground.
Snowy Owls are all over the place this winter. One person noted on social media that they were having a tough time finding a snowy owl. And is stepping six feet closer to the fence really going to make a difference in your Snowy Owl view? And this year the pickin’s for quality hunting grounds may be even slimmer.
This breathtaking part of the world is home to a dazzling array of bird species including many species that are easiest seen in the Okavango – birds like Pel’s Fishing Owl, Slaty Egret and Wattled Crane.
Further north, we slow down by the ruins of an old farm… and yes, a Little Owl greets us with its ‘smiling’ face. The intensity of experience is not the same, but, e.g. focusing on a single bird and trying to solve the puzzle… or finding the rarest owl of India , that was a mind-blowing one. More of a hunt?
At first, from a distance, I thought it was a hawk or an owl. They have long raptor-like wings that enable swift flight, large eyes for nocturnal hunting, bristles close to the bill to aid in prey capture and a mouth that truly defies description. For example, last Sunday we found an unusually large bird in one of the nets.
Though I traveled to NYC this weekend, Ivy and I nailed down our best bird before I left; a Short-eared Owl has been hunting at a local park not 10 minutes from our house, which makes for the easiest owl sighting we’ve snagged in a long time!
Redtails hunt at night… sometimes. Heermann’s Gull bills can appear in Great Horned Owl pellets. You’ve seen the nictitating membrane but have you seen the crazy fuzzy white eyelid that comes up from the bottom when they sleep? Common Ravens use weird tactics to intimidate hawks.
”) that we drive up to the Adirondacks so I could finally connect with a Great Gray Owl. With much trepidation I told her the owl was in Keene, about four-and-a-half hours away and I could call my folks and see if they would put us up for the night at their house, half-way back from the long-range twitch. spotted the owl.
Swifts are aplenty, one is likely to see Gray-rumped , Band-rumped , or Short-tailed Swift hunting insects each morning. Even having a conversation at night can prove difficult, as we are often interrupted by the wail of a Common Potoo , or the intermittent hooting of a Tropical Screech-Owl.
They spice up their vole-based diet with the occasional Snow Bunting or Ptarmigan or even a young, confused Short-eared Owl. They are magnanimous lords of the winter fields, and don’t care at all about our folly in preferring flashy Snowy Owls or the mere rumors of Gyrfalcons , or even silly little snack-sized finches.
At night, we keep our eyes out for the passage of the neighborhood Barn Owl , oftentimes a Tropical Screech-Owl would hunt insects from a low perch on our almond tree. Sometimes this Merlin ‘s mate comes to check him out, but for most of the northern winter he hunts solo.
It was a Barn Owl, or what country people around here still call the White Owl, hunting the water meadows at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Daylight hunting is a characteristic of British Barn Owls, but curiously it is very rare on the Continent, where the birds are just as numerous but far less frequently seen.
Can you use a drone to get footage of snowy owls in cornfields? If you have a drone and fly it over a field and it finds a Short-eared Owl that you didn’t know was there and you only saw it after you uploaded your video…does it count on your list? How often is too often for checking out the nest? How close is too close?
Next time you find the light fading and resign yourself to a night sky filled with owls and bats, remember that some diurnal denizens like to stay out late too. Red-tailed Hawks have a habit of hunting well into the night if there is any available light and the getting is good. Gophers that live near streetlights beware.
It was dark when we reached our accommodation in the hillside village of Pachna, where we were greeted by a duet of Scops Owls. According to the taxonomists, these weren’t regular Scops Owls ( Otus scops ) but the endemic Cyprus Scops Owl ( Otus cyprius ).
Further down the road, we reach a derelict building with a large veranda hidden among the trees – an abandoned hunting lodge (if I were in a situation to invest, I would choose to upgrade this into a luxury wildlife lodge). Previous posts about the same tour: Melghat Tiger Reserve: The Search for the Rarest Owl of India.
Lots of great birds in this pine-spruce bog habitat: Purple Finches , Least Flycatchers , many wood-warblers, but no sign of my jinx bird (other life bird possibilities for me here included Great Gray Owl , Spruce Grouse , Northern Three-toed Woodpecker and American Black-backed Woodpecker ). The day shift, hunting the meadow.
A shot or two coming from the opposite bank, but they do not sound like geese shooting – more like boar hunting. A goose hunt sounds like a WWII battle. We counted more than 35 of them, relaxed and fearless, clearly not hunted. Easy – it is forbidden to hunt at night. Labudovo okno reserve, photo (2) by Marko Sciban.
I do so for a variety of reasons, but I admit to a strong hunting instinct, so I enjoy capturing images (trophies?), I’m really a birdwatcher, not a bird photographer, though these days I usually carry a camera. of the birds I encounter.
A portable speaker is placed on the top of the car, playing Tawny Owl calls from a smartphone. Although we do enjoy it immensely, we are not doing it for fun, but to gather information on distribution, habitat choice and density of breeding pairs of owls for the first national and second pan-European atlas of breeding birds.
Two more aspects contribute to bird diversity: these are the inner city waters, so hunting is forbidden, and the Danube rarely freezes, and even then it would be the last water to freeze. Yes, other species easier to spot in winter include the Long-eared Owl and the Peregrine , but I am not going to discuss their whereabouts openly.
Sadly, the HBW states that the species is “almost extinct in some areas in China owing to hunting and trapping for the cagebird trade and taxidermy” The Maroon Oriole looks much more interesting, though my photos do not really do it full justice. The post Birding Tengchong, Yunnan (again) first appeared on 10,000 Birds.
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