Crepuscular Creature Of Habit

I'm not a quitter but I just couldn't seem to get a half decent shot of the Amwell barn owl in flight. Trouble is it's a crepuscular creature, seen usually at twilight. My 400mm lens is f5.6 and when I was trying ten days or so ago I couldn't even get the camera to focus. I thought I had given up.

I went for a walk at the reserve this afternoon and asked a man at the viewpoint if Barny was still around. Luckily it is a creature of habit and had passed through yesterday. 

I strode purposefully up to the White Hide thinking positive. I had already made up my mind what settings to use. When I opened the door the inside was in complete darkness. Hooray! I had the huge 'Hilton' to myself. I had hardly finished opening a couple of shutters and getting myself poised when ghostly Barny appeared. Yay! It was 4:20. Last time I tried, on 26th January, the bird didn't arrive until 5:05. Lengthening days and Barny's earlier appearance made all the difference. :)