This noisy image might be our first photograph of Owl-fred. He spends the daylight hours tucked away in the forest canopy somewhere, hunting only under the veil of night, so we almost never get to see him.With prolonged twilight and limited darkness in the summer this far north, however, Owl-fred might soon be forced to break his cover. While taking pictures of the crescent moon around midnight last night, I noticed an owl-like shape perched on a branch near the nest box. Owl-berta should still be sitting tight on eggs, so I figured it must have been Owl-fred. I snapped a few shots, working my way closer for a better look, and as I neared the tree the owl hopped up to the nest box, gave out a meal delivery call, and to my surprise swooped down at my head before flying off into the forest. This was the first time our owls have gotten defensive. Not wanting to disturb the pair I retreated to the deck where I sat and watched for another 20 minutes or so. In that time, presumably Owl-fred made a second foraging trip from the box and returned minutes later with another meal delivery. I could hear rustling and what sounded like possibly Owl-berta bashing Owl-fred's fresh kill against the box walls. Looking closely at this photo and others from last night it appears Owl-fred is clutching a vole in his talons. Interestingly, throughout all of this activity, I could hear I male continuously calling nearby, possibly a second male from an adjacent territory. The plot thickens.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM + 1.4x, ISO-6400 f/5.6 @ 1/6 sec.
No comments:
Post a Comment