Two Hoots

Blipper RichieBoo sent me a mounted print of one of his Blips as a gift.  I had it framed.  .Read the story and see the print.


A neighbor came over to my house this afternoon to tell me that she discovered not one, not two, not three (like last year), not four - but five baby owls in her tree today. These are baby Western Screech-owls

I went over with my tripod and big lens, both of which were mistakes.  These owls are much closer to the ground (and thus me) than the baby Great Horned owls I was shooting the other day.  They are also much better hidden amongst the branches and leaves.

I managed to locate all five of them.  I only had a decent "focused" shot at one of them, and he just wanted to sleep - a rather boring shot.  Owls are really only cool if you can see their eyes.

So I plopped my tripod under the tree and pointed straight up. I seem to be specializing in bird bottoms.  It was the only shot I got with the eyes of both owls showing.  Open was a bonus!

At only about 16 cm, these young things will only get to about to 22 cm (8-1/2 in) tall with a wingspan of 76 cm (1-1/2 ft).  Most are grey but some are brown. At times, their ear tufts will be prominent.  At other times they will lie flat.


I'll try again later this week (by hand and with a smaller lens).  It's so extremely difficult to focus on a critter in such heavy foliage!