Remember me?

During the past two breeding seasons (2011 & 2012) I have spent countless hours at one Little Owl site in particular. Initially it took me many painstaking hours where on each individual visit I'd work myself (in the landrover) just that little bit nearer than the time before. After dozens of visits employing the same stealthy tactics I did eventually gain the trust of the adult birds. Eventually I would get close enough to have great views of the day to day antics and when the juveniles finally fledged the nest they automatically accepted my presence because they could see their parents were relaxed with me being there.

For many reasons I have recently neglected this site and have not made a visit to see them since last September, almost 8 months ago! If the owls were still in residence I feared that I was going to have to go through the whole process of reintroducing myself all over again, I just didn't have the time or the inclination to do so.

So this now brings me to one evening last week, as I was near the farm where these owls reside I thought I'd pop in to see if they were still about. After a quick catch up with the farmer and his wife permission was granted for me to drive the landrover over to the quiet corner of the field where the owls have their nest tree. I parked up at a "safe" distance and scanned the general area, it took me a few minutes to check out all their favored perches and posts and to my delight the first owl was located sitting in the hedgerow, just below the nest tree. I was too far away to capture an image but more importantly I was too far away to tell whether or not the owl was spooked by my presence?  The only way I was going to know if it remembered me was by moving closer. It wasn't going to be a stealthy maneuver either as its pretty difficult to be subtle when one is sitting inside a 2 tonne vehicle with a 2.5lt diesel engine revving away! 

I didn't just go a drive straight up to it, that would have been foolish! Instead I drove across it from left to right and with each pass I steadily got closer. In all this time (about 10 minutes) it just sat motionless apart from its head which swiveled as it watched me going back and forth. Eventually I got to within 20 feet of it, the last hurdle I now needed to cross was the switching off of the engine, I knew from previous experience's that this action can spook owls more than the driving by. The final test was passed with flying colours as the owl didn't budge a muscle, this is a wild owl and it stilled sat there unperturbed, it was at this point that I realised it remembered me from last year and it didn't feel threatened.

Scattered around the nest tree are several favoured perches that the owls use, some of which are ones that I put up for them last year. I strategically positioned some of them so as to give a nice neutral and uncluttered background, and it was to one of these perches that the owl flew. In order to capture an image of it on this perch it meant I had to manoeuvre the Landrover yet again. This was done with the minimum of fuss and the owl didn't move, it was as if it was waiting for me to turn around!  

Things were good, but then things got even better when the second owl flew in and landed next to its mate. That was definitely the defining moment, the second owl was still here and it too had accepted my presence. They were only together on the post for a few seconds but it was time enough to capture this image below.

I spent the next hour or so watching as the owls as they went about their business, it was like I wasn't even there! It was pretty obvious that they had chicks in the nest as they were making plenty of visits to the nest hole with a variety of food offerings, worms, beetles and insects. I have no idea what age the chicks are, but as I didn't hear them begging I would assume not too old? Now I have re-acquainted myself with the parents it shouldn't be too difficult for the youngsters to get use to me once they fledge.  

Whilst with the owls I performed one final act that really pushed the boundaries further than I could have foreseen.  I covered myself with camo netting and got out of the Landrover on the furthest side away from the owls. I knew that this action could have been destructive for my relationship with the owls and possible scare them off for good, but I still chanced it. Once out of the landrover I got onto the ground and crawled underneath it, I so wanted to get down at eye level with the owls whilst they grubbed around in the grass whilst looking for food.  Yes they did seem to be alert to me being there but it didn't scare them off. And at one stage one of the owls came within only a few feet from me and this image below was captured, my favourite from the day.

 

I will now be keeping a close eye on the activity at this site and hopefully there will be some chicks out of the nest very soon...............