Experimenting

Since the purchase of my new Canon 7D camera body I've had a few evening opportunities to get out and have a play. I'm finding the operations a bit fiddly and loads of mistakes are still being made! But in time I hope to show an overall quality improvement, especially with my low light owl images as the 7D has a much higher ISO range than I have previously been use to. 

This Little Owl image (from my site No 87) was from the first session I had with the new camera, although the golden colours are totally natural (due to low level setting sun) I felt they were too intense, therefore have toned them down somewhat to make it more appeasing to the eye. 

Terrible back light nearly rendered this owl image from my site No 154 to the trash bin, that is until I processed it in a monochrome style, I think I did the right thing in salvaging it?

Same bird as above but better light this time!

Male Little Owl at my site No 176, due to the distance and low light this image would never have been possible with my old camera. But more pixels and higher ISO with the 7D gave me a "keeper"!

Whilst at my site No 176 I noticed a heron hunting in a distant pond. A quick manoeuvre of the car gave me a good vantage point to watch as it stalked its prey. I was far enough away as not to disturb it and I got a couple of images at the moment it striked.

On both occasions it emerged with a tiny fish.

Although I was captivated by the hunting Heron I couldn't help but be distracted by a group of Mistle Thrushes further along the lane. They were making a right commotion as if they were mocking a bird of prey? Hmmmmm maybe a Tawny Owl, this needed further investigation.

I slowly drove up to what all the fuss was about and low and behold........a Little Owl!!! The Thrushes were giving it a right hard time, they were continually mobbing it. Eventually it flew to the sanctuary of a nearby oak tree, that was my chance to attain a "record shot". Although this was my only sighting another 2 owls could be heard calling, I suspect a family party?

New Little Owl site No 192.

Chomping at the bit!

Got out tonight for a couple of hours and how I enjoyed it! Over the last two weeks I'd missed my owls  and as this evenings late setting sun offered a glorious glow what better excuse could I ask for than to get out and see some owls, and of course try out my new camera!

This is my very first published image with the new Canon 7D, it just had to be of a Little Owl didn't it? The controls and settings are so different to that of my old 40D camera it is going to take me a while to master it, but I don't think my first effort is too bad? I have cropped this image far more than I would ever dare do with the old 40D, one of the beauties of having nearly twice a many pixels to play with.

The owl was located at my site No 87 near to Willoughby Waterleys, it was perched up on top of an old manure pile. The back drop of the sun shining on a tree trunk gave an unusual golden and warm feeling to the image.

Another feature that the 7D has is the ability to record movie footage, (click on the arrow to play) this is my first attempt and yes it is shaky, slightly out of focus and out of synchronisation, but hey give me a chance!!

Here is the same owl as above calling back to his mate.

Not sure I will do a lot of movie footage, but it's a nice to have should the situation arise.

Upgrade!

Back in the UK now after a superb family break in the US,  we had a smashing time and whilst there we were very well looked after by Bren and Jay....thanks guys! During the holiday the birding/photo opportunities in their back garden were just brilliant, that is until my Canon 40D decided to stop working!! It was very frustrating with loads of good bird images missed! However I must be thankful that it did work for the first week and some stunning birds were captured.

So yesterday I made a visit to the local camera shop (Jacobs in Leicester) a good bunch of guys who are very helpful, unfortunately they didn't know what was wrong with my camera and it needs to be sent away.

It just so happens that I have been looking at upgrading my camera for a while now but never had the conviction to actually "splash the cash" and go for it! Well guess what, I am now the proud owner of a brand new Canon EOS 7D!!! All in all a better model than the 40D with the facility of also being able to recording live footage, move over Spielberg!



As soon as I familiarise myself with the operations (and get over the jet lag) I'll be getting back into the groove and catching up with my locals owls, hopefully some better quality images and movie footage to come?



In Flight.......at last!!

A picture speaks a thousand words.................

A walk around.

I still haven't had any luck with finding an owl, or relocating the elusive Bluebird, but during a walk around the gardens of where we are staying (7 acres of them!) a few more north American birds were tracked down for an image.

Brown-Headed Cowbird, possible juvenile. From a distance these birds look very much like the European Starling. They group together in small flocks and as their name suggests can be found feeding around cattle. This individual was searching around for food on the ground under some horses, lucky for me it flew nearby and landing in a tree top!! Once you get a closer look it is quite obvious they are not Starlings at all, especially when the beak in noticed.

Further along the track I chanced upon this Chipping Sparrow, with a beak full of grub!

In the pasture immediately to the front of the property can be found a very unusual "back yard" bird. In fact there are dozens of them and they breed here too. Now getting near enough for a decent image has eluded me all week. This image (below) is the best I have managed so far, it has been very heavily cropped and consequently the quality has reduced, however it's identify can still be made!

Now I know what it is, do you??????

And finally a few more Ruby Throated Hummingbird images. My patience and endurance of the midday heat is finally starting to pay off with some "better" images of these delightful characters. To try and understand how small their body is, look at your thumb, (from the nail to the first joint),.........tiny hey!!!!

My first "usable" in flight image.

My favourite USA image so far, their colours are just awesome......

A trio of beauties.

Not a good day today to spend time trying to get images, too dam hot, 90+ degrees and humidity to match of 90%. I did venture out at around 8.00pm when things started to cool down but it was still sticky and damp. 

My quarry tonight was the Hummingbirds, I wanted to try and get some "in flight" images. I made a little hide with some mesh I'd bought earlier in the day and settled down near to one of the many nectar feeders. It was a frustrating waiting game at times as they seemed to favour the other feeders over mine! Eventually I did managed some flight images but due to the low light levels and consequence slow shutter speeds they were no good!  However, I did get a couple of "perched" images that I am pretty pleased with, especially when they were shot just as the light was going and the ISO set at 1600! 

Female posing nicely. 

The male Hummingbird only made one visit and although I am happy with the image I wasn't able to crop out the feeder, I would rather not have it in the image as it adds an "artificial" element to the composition, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers!!

The male, a magnifiently coloured individual.

Just as I was packing up for the night I noticed a new bird on the posts behind me, a male Eastern Bluebird, I think? It was my first ever sighting of this species and a gorgous looking bird. I had to make do with a distant image, but tomorrow, weather allowing I am going to set my stall out to get closer and hopefully some better results.

Eastern Bluebird.

Back Yard Birds - USA Style.

This morning I spent another hour in the car parked up near the feeders. Some amazing visitors and great photo opportunities.

Downy Woodpecker

American Goldfinch, already seen but an improvement in the birds posture.

White Bellied Nuthatch.

House Sparrow

Red Bellied Woodpecker, a massive improvement over my previous image.

Red Cardinal, Indiana's state bird, pretty spectacular hey!

Goodness knows what my next stint will turn up?

No owls but.......

No posts for the last few days as I have been making the long, boring and ardious journey to Indiana, USA. We are here staying with family for our annual vacation and in between doing all the normal family things I am hoping to slip off occasionally to see what birding goodies are about.

Of course my main objective is to see some owls, but as there's such a vast array of different bird species (that I've never seen before) I'm not going to turn down the chance of a photo or two!

So this morning (Saturday) I had my first real opportunity to see what was about, I spent an hour sat in my car near to some garden feeders and it was just amazing!!!!

First up was a Mourning Dove, a dainty bird very similar in size and characteristics to the UK's Collard Dove.

The second visitor to the feeders was this bright red breasted finch size bird. At the time I hadn't a clue to its identity but later research revealed it was a male House Finch........I think!

A Canary!!!! No, but I thought it was when it first came and settled in. A very handsome male American Goldfinch a truly gorgeous bird.

Red Bellied Woodpecker, best bird I have seen to date, dam difficult to photograph as it doesn't stay still for a second, hopefully better views and opportunities to come!

As yet the identity to this bird (below) remains a mystery to me, I've checked some reference books and the internet but I can't find it, any ideas???

Whilst here I have done some research on the owl front, it appears there are three common species in this area, Barred, Screech and Great Horned Owl. It's not going to be easy to track them down though as all three are nocturnal. I'll do my best to locate them but in the meantime I am going to be spending some more time near the feeders, who knows whats going to turn up next?

My Favourite!

I made a return visit to see the Little Owls over at Kilby again tonight, only this time I planned the positioning of the car with a bit more thought and got the full frame image I was after.....just!! No owls on the bonnet tonight, but the three juveniles where up to their normal mischievous antics!!!

Of all the thousands of Little Owl images I have, this particular one ranks right up there with my favourites! 

Close Encounters!!!!

Got out later than planned this evening, I'd missed what good light we'd had for decent images so I had to be content with just doing a bit of owl watching, but where? As I hadn't visited the local Barn Owls for a while that's where I headed.

It wasn't much of a wait either, only about 20 minutes! Two of the four juveniles duly obliged and put in an appearance at the barn window. It was good to see that they are obviously doing well, in fact they are now very handsome birds. Although the conditions were poor I still had a go at getting some images, high ISO and low shutter speeds resulted in a load of trash, but there was a couple of salvageable ones......just?

My time with the Barn Owls was all too brief, it was soon bitch black and time to head off. On the way back I stopped off at my Little Owl site No 91 near to Kilby. I pulled up and parked not far from the nest tree.

I kid you not, what happen next was unbelievable but true!!!!

I sat in my car peering into the darkness whilst straining my ears for any evidence of owl activity when out of nowhere a juvenile Little Owl landed on a fence post right next to the car. It was so close I could of put my arm out of the window and tickled its belly,  I dare not move, it obviously hadn't seen me?

It then dropped down onto the tarmac road beside the car and starting hopping around in a frenzy. I soon realised that it was feeding on flying ants, there had been an explosive hatch of them this evening and there must of been millions of them, especially on the road! Soon after it was joined by another two juveniles, they were all so preoccupied with gorging on the ants they didn't even bother about me.

I sat watching in amazement, but then I was amazed even further, one by one they fluttered up and landed on the bonnet of my car! They sat there all cuddled up together, the nearest one was perched on my windscreen wiper! They seemed very content, they'd had a good feed and the warmth of the bonnet from when the engine was running must have been to their liking. At one point all three were staring straight at me, I was transfixed!

After a few minutes they were back down on the ants again, I took this chance to reach across and get my camera. I engaged the flash and then manually focused on the fence post next to my car, it took a while but during another rest bite two of the owls did land on it and I got these images of them (below) they were so close I couldn't even fit their whole body into the frame!

Over the last few years I had some really close encounters with owls, but nothing as ridiculous as tonight, and before you ask yourself if I'd been drinking and dreaming, no I haven't, it's totally true...........HONEST!!!

Relaxed Owls

I managed to get out owling for the whole afternoon today, I visited three different Little Owl sites and in total saw 14 different birds, 3 adults and 11 juveniles. I spent 2-4 hours at each site sitting and observing from my car. Due to the fact I had a cammo net up at the window the owls couldn't see me and at times they came very close.

The light was pretty good and the owls were relaxed, which lead to some pleasing results.

Fellow Hunter

Out of the blue an email from an another, unknown and local  "Little Owl Hunter" landed in my inbox during the week, they were letting me know of a few sightings of the critters they had made around the south Leicestershire area. Most of the sites were already known to me but one was a bit of a surprise! It was near to the village of Tur Langton, an area I'd searched on many occasions without any success. 

So one evening last week I headed over there, I started my search looking in the roadside trees where they had reportedly been seen, after 30 minutes no luck! I then started looking around the general area slowly moving further and further away. After two hours of searching and around a hundred yards from the initial start position I eventually tracked them down, a couple of alarm calls indicated where they were! I only managed a sighting of one them and due to the fact I was on foot and in clear view I couldn't get too close, so I had to make do with a distant image, below.

Thanks must go to my fellow owl hunter for helping me secure my Little Owl site No 191.



What A Sterling Box

During the last year I have manufactured and erected (with the help of Col & a few other victims) over 40 bespoke Little Owl boxes. Thus far the uptake of these boxes by the owls has been a bit disappointing, only six! Now there could be many factors or reasons why they haven't taken to them more readily, the obvious ones are, poor location, too low, too high, facing the wrong direction, etc etc, or maybe a poor box design?????

I know the old box design has worked well in other parts of the country, but that is mainly in areas where I believe there is a distinct lack of trees and natural cavities, so the owls don't really have a lot of choice.

So with these thoughts in mind I went about designing a new box, but what should it be like?

Having seen hundreds of natural nest locations I needed to work out what the common denominators are, and then I needed to start thinking like an owl and then how do I implement my thoughts and findings into the design.

Firstly, a lot of natural nest sites have a landing platform, usually created when a limb tears off the main trunk, so I need one of these. Little Owls love natural sites where there is a long tunnel that leads to the nest chamber, I think it gives them a sense of security and deters predators from entering, OK I need that too. It  needs to be dry, dark and draught proof, yet roomy enough to cater for the hen owl and say three or four fully grown juveniles. I would also like to give the male owl some where away from the main chamber to roost and the design must not make it too easy for the juveniles to wonder out and be predated when too young........easy hey!

Well after loads of thought I finally came upon what will hopefully be the perfect design? So 4 weeks ago I quickly made my first version out of some scrap timber and erected it near a know breeding site, within 24 hours of putting it up it was being used by the resident owls!

Now this particular box was made without drawings, it was all in my head. So before mass production could commence I wanted Colin see it and gain his approval. So we went over to see it last weekend, Col's first comment was on the shabbiness of the construction but he thought the design was just perfect, especially when he looked inside and it had four roosting owls in it!

So last night Col came over and we set about making a "professional" version, it took us a few hours as we needed to make a few slight alterations to the original design. 

So with all the criteria met, here it is, obviously with the roof removed.  

Col looking very pleased with his evenings work!

It was a pure coincidence that the timber manufacturers logo ended up being in just the right place, but Col and I were both in agreement that this box will be aptly known as the "Sterling" but we couldn't agree on what the "OSB" should stand for, maybe "Owl Survey Box? If you can think of a better name using the "OSB" please leave me a comment or send me an email.........there could be royalties in it for you! 

Only 10 More!

An email received just lately gave me a bit of a wake up call?? I'd unknowingly slumped into a lethargic period as far as my owling was concerned, and getting out there had taken a back seat! The last two months had been so intense with excursions out almost every evening that sooner or later I needed a break from it all.  Don't get me wrong, I just love what I do but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing? 

Anyway the kick up my backside that finally woke me up from this mini break was a potential new Little Owl site, my mate Tony, from Barwell had sent me an email letting me know he'd seen Little Owls whilst he was out walking near the village of Cotesbach, as I'd got no sites in that area it needed further investigation!

I made my way to roughly the area Tony told me about and started searching, there one obvious tree that just "looked right", so I headed straight for it. I was about 30 yards away when all of a sudden there was an explosion of owls, they seemed to be everywhere as they flew off in all directions. This instantly stopped me in my tracks, I surveyed the tree from where I stood and luckily two birds hung around long enough for me to get an image (below).

Superb a new site (No 190) but in all the confusion I wasn't sure how many of them there where, obviously it was a family party and it contained juveniles but just how many???

An inquisitive juvenile. 

An adult owl "hiding".

I made a hasty retreat to around a hundred yards and waited. After another 30 minutes of observations I finally made out that there was two adults and at least 3 juveniles! They were all difficult to see as they were low down in a hedgerow taking shelter from the prevailing wind.

A very distant image of the three juveniles.

  

So after the successful "tip off" from Tony (cheers mate) I now have another site to add to the "proven" breeding list for 2011, that list now stands at 89 juveniles (at least) across 36 different territories! My overall different Little Owl sites is now on 190, only 10 more required to reach the magical milestone of 200, I would have never guessed I'd get anywhere near this total 3 years ago, my original target was 20!!!!