Owl Prowl

I often wonder what the neighbours must think, with me creeping out of my house at an ungodly hour, camera in hand and ISO cranked to 3200...

That is typically what happens on days when I can get out and shoot and the effort was well worth it today.  It was such a thrill to encounter this beautiful Barred Owl!

My heart skips a beat when I discover one of these birds.  They are by far the most animated of owls, actually appearing to have facial expressions, and I could watch them for hours.  Especially when they are in hunting mode.  

Goose-Watching Barred Owl

They react to sounds from activity around them, their heads swivelling back and forth, and point their beak up to the sky as geese fly and honk overhead.  They also seem to mutter to themselves!  If you encounter one that is not used to human activity the sighting won't last long, but the majority of Barreds I've seen are just fine with you observing, from a respectable distance of course.

In early 2004, there were several Barreds in Durham, along with Great Grey Owls (my other obession) and I took this video of a resident Barred Owl, who happened to be at the exact spot where I saw the owl today. I named the one in the video "Smooch", because it looks like he kisses the tree at the end.  This clip is a good example of how animated they can be:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jando1111#p/u/4/zmCM8K0OYKc


Their only natural predator is the Great Horned Owl, and I was shocked to once see a Great Horned and a Barred in the same tree!  I'm pretty sure this was an unfortunate accident - the Barred had been startled and happened to land in a tree where a Great Horned was perched.  Fortunately for the Barred, feathers didn't fly.

The other amazing thing is their call - I've only heard it once in the wild and it is incredible!
http://home.centurytel.net/bobowlcalls/recordings2/01%202005-09-20%20p023%20M%2019_4s%2011025%2016b.wav

Northern Cardinal, Male

I wasn't quick enough to get shots of the Blue Jays who were pounding this owl in the head and stomach.  He gave them quite a few clucks.  But amongst all the avian activity, this male and female cardinal seemed to feel quite safe feeding right in front of it.

For some reason I haven't had much luck photographing Cardinals but the lighting was nice later in the morning and this husband and wife were quite patient with me.


Northern Cardinal, Female

Before heading home I stopped by Thicksons Woods, and there was no sign of the Saw Whet but I found another male Cardinal who thought about flying off when I got out of the car.  But the seeds were too tempting so he allowed me to take a few shots of him as he had lunch.

Northern Cardinal, Male, Thicksons Woods, Whitby ON