Walking Owls.

Following my last Little Owl post I received a few complementary comments from readers regarding an image that I'd captured of a "walking" owl. At the time I didn't think much to it but having had chance to review I now quite like it. So with that in mind this morning I re-visited the same site to see if some other similar images could be captured. This site lends itself to capture this type of image because the owls like to frequent and feed around a mound of dirt in a field. I believe the local farmer buried a dead horse here a while ago and since the earth was disturb it now attracts the owls. But the best thing about the mound is its height, standing a good couple of feet proud of the surrounding field level (must of been a Shire Horse?) it gets me at eye level with them.

 

Upon arrival there were no owls to be seen, which was a surprise as there was no wind and the sun was blaring down. I positioned the car in an opportune position where I could see the whole of the mound whilst having the sun shining from behind me, all I needed now were some owls!

 

After two hours of waiting a single owl eventually put in an appearance! Sadly it was an all too brief visit, only about 15 minutes but it was well worth it as I managed to grab a few shots of it as it grubbed around looking for some morsels and tit bits. 

I'm pretty pleased with the final results, even if they have all been cropped quite heavily due to the distances involved, a wee bit far for my 300mm lens, but next time I'll park closer and hopefully get some real close ups. Thanks to the readers who prompted me with the idea of the "walking" owls.

 

Hope you like them?

Dwindling numbers.

Only 3 Barn Owl chicks left now, the fourth and smallest one that we saw in my last post has now gone. It didn't have anywhere to hide  in the box away from (in comparison) its three massive siblings, consequently it was eaten!

The three remaining juveniles seem to be a picture of health, their short term future looks promising as long as the weather holds and the parent owls continue to keep the supply of rodents coming in.

Picking on the smallest!

The local Barn Owls are still doing OK with their second brood of the year. Most evenings I manage to sit down for a few minutes in front of my PC and catch up with all the latest antics via the nest box camera.

I can now confirm that of the 7 eggs initially laid only six of them hatched, but that's a pretty dam good ratio considering how late in the year we are. So one would now expect to see six healthy chicks in the box albeit at different rates of growth. Well that was the case up until last night, I know the image quality is poor but no matter how hard I looked I could only make out four chicks. So as to confirm the exact numbers and their different sizes I went back through the recording archives. And it didn't take much searching before my suspicions were confirmed, there has been some devious acts taking place which confirms why the numbers have been dwindling!

 

This latest snap shot just looks like a mass of white fir, but look closer and the five chicks can be made out, to make it easier I have numbered four of them.........see them all now? 

If you are now asking yourself why did I say there was five chicks but only four can be seen? Well look harder, I didn't number the fifth chick on purpose!

Did you find it..............????

Well take another look at the top of chick No 4, see that funny shaped leggy thing? Well that is chick No 5! Well to be exact its legs and feet, they were kicking back and forth relentlessly, just before it was EATEN!!!!!

I think this now explains where chick No 6 also went, and where I suspect chick No 2 will be going soon, he is too small, too tasty and doomed!!!!!

Late post!

Considering it is now officially Autumn the weather on Saturday almost defied belief, glorious sunshine almost all day and no wind, very spring like! However, things weren't quite so appealing first thing?

Surprisingly before I could set off I had to clear the car windscreen of the thin layer of ice that had formed overnight, it had been a chilly one! Once cleared I set off in search of some owls, but where? Whilst trying to fathom out a plan for the day I popped into the local petrol station at Whetstone for some fuel and provisions, in doing this I found myself just down the road from my Little Owl site No 31, beings as I was so close it would have been rude not to stop by.

As I made my way down the lane the sun poked its head out above the horizon, the ground was starting to warm up and burn off the overnight frost, I have tried to give you an understanding of the scene in these next two images, not easy though with a 300mm lens, too big!

The owls at my site 31 are best viewed early morning, especially if it is sunny and true to form, there on the low fence railings was my first owl of the day sun bathing! He just sat and watched me watching him, I did get an image but I accidental deleted it.......what an idiot! 

 

For the rest of the morning the owl viewing was brilliant, I have definitely found a frosty morning with the sun rising to be an excellent time for the owls to be out. Several different birds were seen across four different sites, here are a few images that I was lucky enough to capture. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Lier!

In my previous post I lied!!! I said that all the juveniles at my monitored sites had now dispersed, well I was wrong! It wasn't an intentional fib, just a generalisation on what I was finding at the majority of my sites.........sorry!!!!!!

Anyhow, last night I chanced upon a pair of juveniles still hanging around at my site No 92 (not far from the village of Gilmorton). This was my first sighting of any juveniles at this site this year so I had to attempt an image......didn't I? They were perched high in the tree and the light was poor which didn't lend to a "quality" image but bumping up the ISO allowed for a single "keeper" of one of them just before it popped back into the nest/roosting hole, below.

I fully expect that by the time I get back out owling properly at the end of the month (when the Landrover is back on the road)  any juveniles will be hard to locate. So I'll postpone my comment that they have all gone until then!

Off the road.

Nothing much to report on the owling front from the last week or so.........I've hardly been out!

From previous experience I know that when the breeding season comes to an end (as it has now) it is not a good time for seeing owls. The juveniles are now departing the natal sites and will be keen to find new territories and partners for themselves. The parent owls are hiding away in the daytime taking their well earned rest, only really venturing out late in the day to feed.

On one rare occasion that I did ventured out I did chance upon this adult owl at my new site No 215. Only my second ever sighting here, the previous was of a solitary juvenile a couple of weeks ago. The adult owl was perched on exactly the same log that the juvenile was on, must be a favourite? 

The Landrover is off the road again at the moment, which I suppose is the real reason for lack of excersions out, images and posts. Thing are looking promising though for it should be back up and running by the end of the month, and if it is, I will be too! 

Pecking Order.

Before work commenced this morning I had a quick check on the Barn Owl nest cam, after five minutes of viewing no eggs could be seen so I can now only assume that all seven of them have hatched?  Because of the low image quality it is difficult to count exactly how many chicks there are in that moving fir ball, I can count at least 5, how about you?

The male owl had another good nights hunting as at least 4 prey items can be seen scattered about on the floor. The hen owl spends many hours ripping them apart into small morsels and feeds them to her brood. It is now a critical time for the youngest/smallest chicks, they are definitely last in line when it comes to being fed. If they can get enough food and grow fast enough hopefully they will avoid being eaten by their bigger siblings and their chances of survival will be greatly increased.

Solitary bird.

 

I managed to squeeze in a few hours owling this afternoon, just the one owl was seen, and here it is...

 

An expected lull.......

Its becoming very quiet out there now, and it hasn't come as a surprise, I've seen it like this before? After all the high activities of the breeding season the juveniles are now starting to disperse from the natal sites and the parent owls are hiding away and taking a well earned rest. Consequently it is becoming very difficult to locate any owls.

 

Twelve different sites were visited yesterday, and sightings were only made at two! To be fair it was a little early in the day but I couldn't go out at the best time for viewing (the evening) because I was off to the pub! The mighty Leicester City FC were live on the TV and I have to get my priorities right........don't I?

 

The first sighting of the day was this very angry looking owl, I think that scowl says it all........bugger off! 

The only other sighting I made was off the resident pair at my site No 157 near to the village of Gumley. This site isn't visited very often as it is situated right at the extreme of my current survey area. Previously any images from this site have all been rubbish, this is by far the best to date and a bonus pair too!

The sacrifice of leaving the owls early was worth it, City beat Blackpool 1-0, the march up the table is on and a few celebratory drinks were had!!!!

Winter owls......?

Here we are the 1st of September and less than four months to Christmas and I am still keeping tabs on breeding owls!

 

At the Barn Owl site where we have the nest box camera the birds are still doing just fine and the hen owl continues to sit tight on her second clutch of the year.  This screen shot below was taken last night and it shows the hen bird rearranging her 7 eggs, although only 6 can be seen! The cock bird continues to keep her fed with plenty of field mice and voles being delivered, look closely in the box and the rodent larder can be seen .

 

It is difficult to say exactly when the first egg will hatch but my estimation is somewhere in between the 6th & 12th of this month. If this is the case and the timing from hatching to leaving the nest is similar to the 4 chicks they had earlier in the year then they won't be fledging until early December! 

Once the eggs hatch the parent owls are going to have their work cut out catching enough prey if all the chicks are going to survive. I am looking forward to that period because the owls drop their normal nocturnal activities and can be seen out hunting in the early evening. If it is anything like when they had their first brood the viewing will be excellent and undoubtedly there will be some photo opportunities.

 

Below is previously unpublished image that I captured of one of the hunting birds earlier in the year, a reminder of good times. 

Here's hoping that the weather keeps mild and there are still plenty of voles for the owls to catch, sadly I fear the worst! 

Cheap night out!

Compared to previous years my monitoring of the local breeding owls has been some what subdued this year. There have been many contributing factors, or excuses depending on how you look at it but the biggest reason has been cost. My landrover returns a miserly 14 miles to the gallon and with the price of fuel recently I have to bit a bit more frugal when it is used.

 

However, when I'm feeling a bit flush (which isn't that often!) a do chuck a few quid of diesel into it and get out there. Last night was one of those more rare occasions as I wanted to go and check a few owl boxes for any signs of breeding.

I wasn't sure which area and boxes I was going to check out, that was dependant on the latest price of the fuel and how far it would get me? As I pulled up onto the local garage forecourt there it was in massive neon lights........£1.41 a litre. That converts to whopping £6.27 a gallon, (sort it out Cameron) or in my case a sobering £0.48 per mile!!! So my £20.00 was going to give me approx 44.6 miles, and that was to get there and back!

Needless to say I stayed very local, four different sites were checked out of which three showed no signs of any occupancy let alone any birds or breeding. But at the fourth and furthest site there was a positive result. I'd been there parked up underneath the nest tree when one of the adult birds showed at a hole entrance in the tree, below.

This bird showing wasn't a surprise as at least one of them is seen on most visits, but had they bred? I do have a nest box here but they have never used it? However, successful breeding has been recorded over the previous 3 years but the natural nest hole goes too deep inside the tree and the chicks cannot be reached, consequently they are not ringed.

 

Anyway, whilst watching the adult owl I got a real surprise, a juvenile poked its head out of the box! I was pleased that after 4 years they had eventually decided to use it, even though it is only 3 feet from the natural nest entrance!

 

As you can see the box is on its last legs and is desperate for some maintenance. I don't think just a lick of paint will suffice though, a whole new box is required...........dam, more cash!!! 

 

So not a bad little excursion out, yet another site from 2012 with breeding success and another box in use, definitely a positive result. On the negative side I have to fund the cost of a replacement box, (£30.00) and whilst out I drove a total of 24.5 miles, (£11.76)........Not bad hey, £41.76 for an evenings owling!!!!!!

No stiffness here mate!

Yesterday I exerted myself more than I thought possible, and the plan for today was going to be plenty of rest and then a very late start. Oh he's been on the beer again I hear you say, well that couldn't be further from the truth, actually I did a 20 mile bike ride around Rutland Water!!! OK for the average person that's no big deal, but it is if you are two stone over weight (OK three), smoke 20 fags a day, in your mid thirties (OK your caught me out again.......forties) and your idea of exercise is lifting a few pints on a Friday night.............then it is a massive deal!!!!!

 

So when we got back last night I was absolutely shattered, my legs and arms didn't feel my own and the numbness in my bum was murder! I collapsed for a couple of hours in front of the TV, when I finally went to get up the stiffness had kicked in, it even hurt to blink. That was it, my condition had firmly scuppered my plans for an early mornings owling! However, this morning I woke at 6.00am without the slightest hint of the torture endured the day before and the saddle sore had gone, so the owl plan was back on.

 

Surprisingly the weather was good early on, there was little wind and sun had got its hat on, but the forecast was for change around mid morning so I was up and out. The first port of call was one of the sites that Jenny had taken me to a couple of days ago (see previous post), we didn't see any owls then but it looked a promising location?

 

As I drove slowly down the leafy lane nearly every tree, bush and stump was checked out, then just as I approached the point where Jen said she'd seen an owl a couple of weeks ago.......BINGO!!! A juvenile Little Owl sat motionless on top of a fallen log, get in there site No 215!!! I didn't stop as I wasn't prepared. I pulled up further down the lane and got my camera equipment out. The camo screed was put up at  the window and then I returned at a deathly slow pace. The owl was still there, a very confiding bird too!

 

 

Once I realised the bird was OK with my presence I started up the Landie and shunted back and forth to get closer. I am very pleased with the outcome of the images especially so as the light was coming from behind the owl.

 

My time with the owl soon came to an end though as the early morning doggy walkers, joggers and horse riders started to mount up and they scared it off! No other owls were seen but I'll catch up with them on my next visit. Nice one Jen, you were bang on with your info.
 

An owly morning!

Went out on an owl search this morning with Jenny, a local lass who is very much into her birding and a volunteer at the Rutland Osprey Project. She is very much "in the know" with all the local land owners and with her connections we were able to venture to places I'd never been to before.

 

The Landrover came in very handy as went from one rural location to another. Mid morning though I had a bit of a shock at one site, "park up the Landie Paul, we are going on foot from here"...........what!! "Come on she said, its only a short walk", she obviously didn't know that I am allergic to walking! Dam and blast I had no choice so reluctantly I agreed and off we went.  It was a nice area that had plenty of potential, but no owls were seen. After about ten miles of walking (well it felt like it was that far) we finally got back to the Landie for a well earned rest. Jen then surprised me again by unveiling a flask of tea and bacon rolls, all was forgiven!

 

She took me to several other locations during the morning, all of which had great owl potential. I will be returning to them one evening in the week to see if they produce the goods. Late morning we passed one of my "special owl sites", so beings as Jenny was doing her bit to help me the least I could do was to stop off and show her some juvenile owls.....if they were still there?

 

As we approached the corner of the field where the juveniles hang  out we spotted one almost immediately, they were still here!. It wasn't long before all three were seen and they put on quite a show for her, one even briefly landed on the Landrover bonnet. I couldn't resist the chance to grab a quick image of two of them on this perch, they may not be here the next time I visit?

 

Towards the end of our owl tour I showed Jenny around an area where I have some owl boxes that have yet to be occupied. I was taking a route that I'd taken on many previous occasions and as we passed a Willow Tree that sits in total isolation right in the middle of a field an owl was spotted!

 

Was it a new site or was it a dispersing juvenile from elsewhere? Gradually I inched the Landrover nearer and nearer until eventually I was close enough to grab an image, below. 

 

 

A quick review of the image confirmed it was a juvenile, so was it a new site or a dispersing juvenile? It was inconclusive, there was no way we could know either way.

 

As we sat and watched another owl was spotted higher up in the tree, a quick manoeuvre of the Landrover and we than had it in full view..........it was an adult! That proved without doubt this was a new site for me, No 214!

 

The thing that surprised me is I have passed that particular Willow Tree and checked it out on numerous occasions, and seen nothing! Must have been my lucky mascot........nice one Jenny!

Hot leads.....

Still processing some of my owl images from last week, here's a few more of the little blokes when they were found playing around amongst the rubble stack.

   

I tried to think of a humorous caption to go along with this last image, trouble is I am far too straight laced and boring to say anything remotely funny, so I'll let someone else have a go.......

 

I'm out exploring tomorrow morning, a local lady who introduced herself to me at the Birdfair has offered to show me some Little Owl sites that may be new to me, how could I turn that down?  I'll be there on time and raring to go..........that is as long as I don't stay in the pub too long tonight!

Out of the blue......

Have you ever had it where something happens that you just weren't expecting, (of course you have) well that happened to me today. I had a text message come through from my fellow bird photographer pal Douglas McFarland congratulating me on my "Picture of the week" on the "BirdGuides" website.............WHAT!!!!!   It came as a complete surprise especially when you consider the other 500 or so high quality images that were also uploaded by fellow bird photographers. Personally I would have thought many of their images deserved the accolade more than mine, but I'm not complaining I'm very grateful and I'll gladly take it! And to think I nearly didn't even bother uploading the image! I suppose "the pose" the owl was holding is different but it was a massive crop which defiantly resulted in loss of quality. This first image is the full frame original before I cropped it. And this next image is the cropped version that I uploaded, a big difference hey?    Below is the citation from the Birdguides team that accompanied my image..... "If you were to mention Little Owls to BirdGuides regulars, most would immediately think of Paul Riddle. Paul's phenomenal devotion to this species is well known and he has shared with us over 400 images of the birds he has come across in his monitoring and conservation activities. Given that he has located more than 200 Little Owl territories over the past four years, it's no surprise that Paul has captured images showing these birds in almost every imaginable pose, both perched and in flight. This week, though, we were entertained by his unusually posed shot of a juvenile bird with one wing and one foot outstretched. Presumably, the young owl was just having a stretch, but it's easy to interpret its expression and body language as a suggestion that Paul take his camera elsewhere! A great illustration of the fact that, to a creative photographer, birds are an inexhaustible subject".

Photo of the Week citation (admin), today 12:27 To say I'm chuffed is a total understatement!!!

Messing about in the water!

I went looking for the young Barn Owls again this evening, there was no luck in that area and I had a premature ending to the evening but I did have a couple of other nice surprises! 

 

I ended up searching near to Saddington Reservoir, just the usual Mallards, Herons and a few Great Crested Grebes. Whilst I was checking out the distant shoreline through my binoculars in hope that a Barnie may be out hunting early a  white bird flashed across my view...........Barn Owl!!!!

 

I recomposed myself and locked onto the bird, I then realised it was wishful thinking that it was a Barn Owl, but a decent bird never the less......an Osprey! I have never seen one here before and a very good consolation prize. It was hunting and I wanted to get some action images of it. From where I stood on the dam wall the bird was about half a mile away and getting a "keeper" with my 300 lens was going to be tricky! Rather than chase around the reservoir in close pursuit I opted to stand my ground and wait for it to come to me. It didn't come any closer than when I first saw it, so my "dot in the distance" image was the best I got!

 

Whilst waiting for the Osprey to come closer a splash in the water in front of me grabbed my attention, it was a Grass Snake and it was chasing after the fry in the margins! I'd never seen that before so the Osprey was soon forgotten and I was now in pursuit of a more slippery character.

 

I hid behind a clump of vegetation and waited for it to come closer, the images were OK but I wanted to get low down at eye level as I thought it would make for a better composition? As I was doing so I lost my footing and went straight into the water, luck would have I only got wet up to my knees and even luckier my camera was still dry!

 

All the commotion stopped the snake in its tracks, it was giving me "the stare", that was the moment and I think I made the most of it?

 

Needless to say that after my clumsy actions the snake dived and wasn't seen again, but thankfully I got the image I was after even though I was soaking wet!

  

No Luck!

This evening I went and had another look to see if I could locate any of the recently fledged Barn Owls. It was a drive of around 15 minutes from home and when I arrived the light was somewhat better than when I left, mmmm maybe its still a bit too early and bright for the owls to be out?

So to kill some time I went and checked out some other Little Owl sites......

At the first site only a single juvenile was located, he gave me a good pose in the superb light conditions.

He didn't hang around long though, fortunately I managed to nail a flight shot of him as he departed.

I got fed up then with the waiting for something else to happen at the first site so I moved on down the road. At the second site three juveniles were found messing about amongst a pile of old rubble. 

It was nice to get an owl perched on or in something a bit different.

Occasionally one is lucky enough to get some super close up views of the owls, normally it is for a few fleeting seconds and grabbing an image is not possible. This evening I had the resident adult male bird land only a few feet away from me, in fact he was so close I couldn't fit him all in the frame at 300mm! I dare not put my hand out of the window to zoom out for fear of scaring him off so I just concentrated on his eye. I did increase the depth of field from F3.0 to F5.0 so as to capture a bit more feather detail in the foreground, it wasn't quite enough and a lesson learnt.

This last image is my favourite from the session, it is of another one of the juveniles and was taken when the light was at its best.

After my stint with the Little Owls I reverted back to the original plan of trying to locate the fledged Barn Owls, sadly none were seen. I am hoping that either I was looking in the wrong location or it was still too early for them to be out.

I won't give us just yet, tomorrows another day and maybe then I'll get lucky?