The Owlery
The continuing story of a family of Great Horned Owls - by Dave Brooks
Book Six
May 26th, 2019, 6:58:57 am - The young owls spend much of their daytime hours engaged in intermittent slumber.
May 26th, 2019, 7:00:06 am - Unless something comes to their attention and there is something of interest in the field below.
May 26th, 2019, 7:00:17 am - A vole perhaps. Or maybe a grasshopper.
May 26th, 2019, 7:01:53 am - Sometimes it is me.
May 26th, 2019, 7:02:21 am - Sometimes a crow flies by above while a vole is rustling in the dry grass below.
May 26th, 2019, 7:02:22 am - When a Turkey Vulture flies near by they seem to heighten their alertness.
May 26th, 2019, 7:02:26 am - And their eyes will track the vulture as far as they can follow.
May 29th, 2019, 6:26:08 am - The mother owl had just hopped up to this branch offering a nice pose in good early morning light.
May 29th, 2019, 6:26:10 am - It appears as though she’s starting to move forward along this branch but her feet remain in place. She is shifting her body and her head as something has caught her attention.
May 29th, 2019, 6:26:10 am - To me this looks like she has spotted possible prey in the field below.
May 29th, 2019, 6:26:15 am - A few seconds later and she has noticed other concerns.
May 29th, 2019, 6:33:00 am - This morning, as sometimes happens, I could not find the owls in the tree line. So I searched in the canopy of the trees along the creek. The day was pretty warm already and these old oaks offer deep shade with ease of access.
May 29th, 2019, 6:33:25 am - I was closer to this owl than I like to be as I had just noticed it while I was looking almost straight up. However this owl was sitting directly above a walking path that sees dozens of people pass by each day. I moved away after capturing a few images and this owl appeared at ease throughout our brief meeting.
June 9th, 2019, 6:29:42 am - Just about to launch into flight.
June 9th, 2019, 6:30:00 am - The young owls usually make short flights of a couple of feet to maybe forty feet long when they are switching trees. This flight was about twenty feet long in a move to a nearby tree.
June 9th, 2019, 6:31:58 am - And here she is after landing on a new perch. Prey in the field has her attention.
June 9th, 2019, 6:32:00 am - Owls move their heads around to help them locate sounds in a kind of sonic triangulation.
June 9th, 2019, 6:32:02 am - Seems to be locked on now.
June 9th, 2019, 6:32:10 am - A few seconds later and its all over, for now anyway.
June 10th, 2019, 9:43:44 am - It was late morning and I was scanning the trees for the owls when my wife Tracy suggested I look down toward the ground. And this is what I saw, a nice bit of hunting practice just below one of their favorite shade branches.
June 10th, 2019, 9:43:53 am - She seemed to be stalking an insect through the dried grasses and leaf litter beneath the eucalyptus trees. She followed her prey around for a few minutes.
June 10th, 2019, 9:45:31 am - Then suddenly she turned and took off. The whole time she was on the ground my camera’s auto focus was struggling like mad to lock on to the owl and I was lucky to get these few shots in relatively good focus.
June 10th, 2019, 9:46:12 am - It was a hot day and this owl was posturing for ventilation to lose body heat and stay cool.
June 18th, 2019, 9:10:22 am - A week later and this is the last time I saw these young owls for any photographic opportunities. I believe this owl was tracking a Turkey Vulture high overhead.