Who, who, who cooks for you?

[geoff59]

So says a Barred owl when it hoots, supposedly. As much as I like rocks, I also like photographing owls, and spend/waste considerable amounts of time and gasoline hunting down owl signs and clues, staking out locations, waiting for hours sometimes without success. It’s easier in colder months because of the lack of foliage in the woods. So here is a shot, it instantly makes auto-focus useless because of the twigs and branches in front of the owl. So a quick click-off of the lens AF/M focus selector, and just like the old days using my hand to focus the lens with this result. When it all goes together, when Murphy stays home. He doesn’t usually.

Here is a red-morph Screech owl, just emerging at dusk from it’s home, this shot is from last winter.

[hummingbirdstones]

Great shots of those owls!

I love all birds (except pigeons), but owls are up at the top of the list.  

[hummingbirdstones2]

Those are incredibly nice photos! Owls are great.

We have Great Horned Owls in this area. A couple of times they've tried to roost here. The Coopers Hawks gave them no peace at all.

I've learned so much about birds since Robin and I got married. Before I knew her I didn't appreciate them until they turned golden brown.

[rockpickerforever]

We heard owls hooting for the first time since we had have lived here. Thirty years. By deductive reasoning (how many types of owls live here, minus the species it could NOT be (burrowing owls, smaller owls, etc), I deduced that we are being visited and serenaded by a pair of Great Horned Owls!

Edit to add - I had heard that the male GHO has a larger voice box and a deeper voice, but the female is actually larger than her mate! Didn't know that.

I took a bad photo of him HER on the pole the other night. Although it does not show his HER details very well, it does show he SHE is tall - 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall!

They started hooting maybe a month ago. Sometimes we don't hear them for a week at a time, then they are back. The larger bird likes to sit on the top of the phone pole (with newly replaced bulb in streetlight - BRIGHT!), maybe 15 feet out and 20 feet up from my bedroom. They used to bother me a little, but I am getting used to it.

Since I have neighbors that put out poison for rats, I worry about them. I understand there us a new poison out that will not kill coyotes, owls, pets, etc., that ingest a poisoned rat. YAY!

[khara]

geoff59 Wow, those are so cool.👍

[vegasjames]

Beautiful photos.

[liveoak]

Thanks for sharing your owl photos geoff59 , I hope you won't be shy to share more in the future.

Owls are so cool. Your Screech owl photo is exceptional. Good hunting on your part !

We live on the edge of a large swamp here in NW Florida & hear owls frequently.

Always brings a smile to my face, makes me feel that there is still enough wilderness to support them, and that makes me happiest of all.

Patty

[dillonf]

Love your photos - they are beautiful.
You can attract owls with calls if you know what species you are targeting. I've done it in the past to attract Barn owls and screech owls and it worked sometimes. Only word of caution is larger owls may respond to the calls of smaller species, and you don't want to put the smaller species in a potentially threatening situation.

[geoff59]

The screech owl shot above is taken in near-dark conditions, shooting light that up until just a few years ago was impossible to work in. The newer, top shelf cameras emit IR focusing assist beams that can lock focus on when you pretty much can’t see. The sensor is designed to capture an image in near-darkness. The camera is tripod-mounted, a radio trigger is used (to prevent shaking the camera) and the exposure is something like 1/2 to 1 second long. When you look at photos of owls, look at the pupils of the eyes. If they are dilated, the image is taken similar to this in dusk/dark, even though the end result appears to be daylight. If the owl moves during that 1/2+ second, the image is blurred. In film days, I sometimes shot images of bugs covered in early morning dew, anywhere from 1 to 8 second long exposures, once in a while even longer.

This Screech owl image below, I took last year; looking through the viewfinder of the camera I knew the owl was right there, but I could not even tell which way the head was facing, it was that dark out. Note the pupils and how wide open they are. When I half pressed the remote trigger and saw a tiny flash of red through the camera viewfinder, and heard the lens move, I knew it had locked-on with focus, and I squeezed off 8 or so images fast before the owl flew off. This is the only one that it was facing me and my camera. You have to push the limits to the end and beyond! I grew up in the 1960s and have been a camera bug since those days; owning and using photo-equipment like this is like a dream to me, almost supernatural at times, science fiction just a few years ago, etc. I wouldn’t go back to film again for anything (except that I love the stuff of course)

 

[geoff59]

A Snowy owl takes off from it’s late afternoon perch, somewhere along coastal Massachusetts, last winter.

[liveoak]

I don't think my cheap point and shoot is going to help me out here-
I think I'm going to have to be content here listening my mine & looking at your photos.

Here's one you might enjoy geoff59 and if you grew up in the 60's might be a book lover after all 

It's a book we picked up at a library sale a couple of years ago. Wonderful illustrations & descriptions.

I can't believe you can get it so cheap - a truly amazing book.

Owls of the Northern Hemisphere

Patty

[jasoninsd]

Geoff these are some amazingly beautiful pictures of some fowl subjects! Thank you so much for posting these.

[mohs]

Welcome to RTH, Geoff !

its a real pleasure to view you photography !

Ed

[wolverine]

I had a Barred owl family in my yard this past spring.  I watched the parents perch in the trees hunting all along my back yard. Interesting to watch them be so active all day. The nest was in a big hole in a dead tree on the edge of my yard. I only got a few glimpses of the young ones as I didn't what to disturb them. Hopefully they'll be back next spring. 

[khara]

wolverine So cool! 👍

[Brian]

Those are gorgeous photos, Geoff! I admire the patience and skill that went into capturing those photos! I can only imagine how frustrating it must be when they move or fly off halfway through the exposure.

I have yet to even see a full grown owl in the wild, although I did get to see some babies in my uncle's barn a few years back. I also had the best owl experience over the weekend. We took the kids to our tiny, local zoo and the barred owl was hooting up a storm at my kids. By the time I got my phone out and set to take a video, it stopped. I have never heard such noises come out of an owl before.

[liveoak]

Here you go brian .

The first time I heard them calling back & forth between a couple of owls, down here in the southern river swamps,

while laying in a tent, I could have bet there were monkeys in the trees .

Patty

[AzRockGeek]

Here is one of my local guys. 

[Brian]

Nov 19, 2022 7:41:29 GMT -5 liveoak said:

Here you go brian .

The first time I heard them calling back & forth between a couple of owls, down here in the southern river swamps,

while laying in a tent, I could have bet there were monkeys in the trees .

Patty

Thanks, Patty! I was shocked when I heard him carrying on and they do sound like monkeys! I had only heard the stereotypical “who” and couldn’t believe the different sounds coming out of it, especially when standing 5 feet away from it.

[MsAli]

NDK and I LOVE owls and your photos are stunning! Way better than mine.
We have some local Barred, that come winter I can find. Last year I saw a Great Horned, but he was gone by the time I got my phone open. I've yet to see a Snowy, but I know they are around here