barn owls
standing just inside the gateway of the rough water meadow at the bottom of Cake’s Lane at midday today, I noticed two oddly shaped white objects on the lower branches of an oak along the boundary with the track. focusing more as I walked towards them I could see they were a pair of barn owls. backtracking down the lane towards the back of the trees I just managed to catch this photograph before the owl decided I was too close and flew off. I watched the pair floating over the long grass of the meadow for a while. ideal habitat for barn owls. we see them a lot round here.
Said, on January 27th, 2008 at 5:35 am :
Oh beautiful… you caught them in flight. Our owls are usually much more shy. They really are quite exquisite. You deserve to be well *chuffed* as you said.
xoxoxo
Said, on January 27th, 2008 at 6:07 am :
barn owls hunt in the daytime a lot so one sees them more. the other one that does that is the short-eared - it has really long wings. very beautiful. but not as common as the barn owls.
Said, on January 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am :
What a lovely white face and attentive eyes. Your barn owl seems aware but not afraid. How close did you get? When I was a child living on a farm, I knew a sparrow hawk (possibly a saw whet) that could dive down and tap my head without spooking the pony I rode. This might be attributed to the silence of their wings. Eventually it nested in the eaves of our house, a large old, battered, New England farm house, and I tried to feed it raw hamburger. It laid eggs that didn’t hatch, and disappeared. In Maryland, we see bald eagles, ospreys, and red tail hawks in the woods around my house, but the cats only ask to come in when the great horned owl shows up. Hopefully you will see them again.
Linda Stewart, Laura’s Mom
Said, on January 27th, 2008 at 9:53 am :
ooh, thanks! I think I was about 20 yards away - a very rough guess - but I put my little digital camera on maximum zoom, and this picture is cropped, so there was about 3 times as much background in the photo. I can’t get wonderful resolution on these blog photos anyway.
I remember riding a pony in a group once in my teens and a sparrowhawk stooped right beside us onto its prey. being on a horse makes the wildlife much less afraid, I think. our birds of prey are much more common now the farmers have stopped using DDT and now they are protected so the gamekeepers aren’t allowed to shoot or poison them. one success story is the Marsh Harrier, which is re-establishing itself. we have kestrel, sparrowhawk, buzzard, and honey buzzard (summer visitor) quite commonly locally. I have seen a Red Kite, and marsh and hen harriers at the coast.
Said, on January 27th, 2008 at 11:31 pm :
What magnificent pictures. I have an affinity for owls and rarely get to see them in my part of the city. However, I did hear one recently during the day while sitting in a garden. I have no idea if that was a barn owl. Might have been. The “in-flight” photos are special.
Said, on January 28th, 2008 at 6:08 am :
Love the owls. They’re supposed to be very common in central Canada but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one. The Quebec national animal is the Harfang des Neiges (we have many words for owls in French, I’ll look it up and post about it on the board).
I love the sand ripple photo in the previous entry. God, my photos are an embarrassment compared to yours. LOL!