Well, I encountered her again this week while on my drive home. She was sitting in that same spot where I had seen her before, quiet, patient, beautiful. I drove the rest of the way home with a dialog going on in my head and the 'yes' won out. I grabbed my camera and off I went. As you can see, she was still there when I returned.
It is intimate and wonderful to watch an owl hunting from her perch, her head turning in every possible direction, and some that don't seem possible, as she patiently awaits her prey.
And as I watched her I realized this barred owl love affair began much earlier than this spring. It happened when a family of barred owls collected in the tree branches outside my door last summer and began to call back and forth to each other. This conversation of sorts went on for most of an hour, so much so that I could count by the distance of the calls that there were four of them taking part--parents and their fledged off-spring, I surmised. Take time to listen to the barred owl calls by clicking on the link: Barred owl. They are magical.
And while I was looking at these photos, the one below struck fear in me.
Two cars slowed to see what I was photographing (from my parked car). And as I took my eye away from the camera to look at them the owl struck her prey and they stopped to watch. Even though this vehicle had slowed to a crawl and the owl crossed safely, it shows clearly how much danger is in her path. I want to stand guard, direct traffic, insist the county put up a detour sign or, at the very least, post a sign that says:
"SLOW--OWL CROSSING".
What an incredible set of photographs! Timing is everything :-)
ReplyDeleteI went to visit a friend on Friday and when he came home some two hours later there was an echidna on the side of the road (it definitely wasn't there when I came by). And yes it waited patiently until it was photographed before it waddled off! Getting shots of real wildlfe is a challenge and a blessing lol
Mountaingirl,
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think I've gone a bit crazy when I do things like this, but it is always so rewarding. There is so much to see and enjoy in nature. The camera helps to get us closer and makes the moment more lasting and intimate.
I know you are going to have great fun with your camera!
echidna...I had to do a search for this one. How cute--a spiny anteater with a funny little snout.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos and interesting story behind it.
ReplyDeleteI love owls. When I was a kid and went on holidays with family, we used to go and stay in a farmhouse looking onto Morocco from the Spanish coast. The countryside was quite unspoilt then. You could hear the goats and long-horn Spanish cattle grazing on the mountainside (with their bells tinkling gently). The night would be clear. Bright stars. Smell of jasmine. Crickets clicking. Warm breeze. Night alive.
And we would sit listening to this owl hooting in a big tree in front of the farm house. This was bliss for my parents (and us). Just one of those moments!
What a beautiful and special memory, Eamon--vivid sensory images. I think that may be one of the reasons why being out in nature and relating to nature is so refreshing and healing for us. Not only is it full of interesting characters and discoveries but we experience it with all our senses. It engages us from head to toe.
ReplyDeleteI love owls, too. I seem to be drawn to all the birds of prey--the first love on that list, the golden eagle.
Vickie
ReplyDeleteI have been looking over your blog more as well as biography and art page.
This blog is a pleasure: nature, birds, art, nicely put-together and interesting content!
I see that you are (retired ?). How you must be enjoying yourself now with all of this. Wish you all the best. God bless.
Just wanted to tell you about the storks in Spain (I think storks are similar family to cranes?)
ReplyDeleteBeside the farmhouse I was telling you about before, there was a really, old gorgeous chapel, and on top of the cross (over the bells) there is (still) a stork's nest. They are big birds. Lanky looking. Wonderful. Anyway, what a pleasure it was to wake up in the morning, and see this great, big bird standing up in its nest and clicking its wings.
This is an important spot (around 30 miles by 30 miles) where the storks have their young before (not sure of details) returning to Africa / Egypt from Northern Europe). You see them all over the place. In particular on those ugly, electic pylons. But even the electric pylons look amazing with these amazing birds on them (and as far as I believe, the authorities aren't allowed to touch them).
You, also, see them nesting on top of all the churches and in tall trees.
Once I saw them all take to the sky - migrating back to Africa. Magnificent sight.
These aren't my photos but are photos of the stalks in the area:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve
http://www.massaudubon.org/Images/nh_travel/destinations/storks.jpg
http://www.jphpk.gov.my/English/storkprob.jpg
Anyway, thought you might be interested!
No, not retired. But I have created flexibility and use my free time to do the things I love. Thank you for your kind comments.
ReplyDeleteEamon, I so enjoyed that journey. I googled --stork spain-- and came up with some beautiful photos of both the white stork and its relationship to the people, architecture and country side. Heartening to see people and wildlife co-habitating with such tolerance and acceptance, by all appearance.
ReplyDeleteThey do appear very crane-like, long-legged wetland wadding birds and in the same class: Aves. This seems to be where the two species diverge. I noticed there are 19 species of storks and there are 15 species of cranes worldwide. All our wetland species need our vigilance because so many wetlands are drained for agriculture and development.
Migration is another huge danger as well as electric lines. I noticed electrocution is a major danger to white storks; collision with power lines is the no. 1 known cause of whooping crane deaths.
In North America we have wood storks which look quite different than the white stork and are 30% smaller than whoopers. If you've never seen a wood stork, check out this photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:WoodStorkWhole.JPG
I hope you won't mind me telling you this story. It involves a stork being eaten. However the stork was eaten by a poor man in Africa (and since the Africans are poor and hungry, I think it is alright to tell the story, even to a bird lover such as yourself), and it involves conservation - and it is just one of those bizarre, quirky stories.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, an Englishman who I know well in this part of Spain, has a house with a farm. His farm is densely-populated with storks. They are everywhere. Including in the top of his trees around his house. It is the most bizarre site. Like some artificial Hollywood set. But it's totally natural, and the storks have been coming here for .. well hundreds, thousands of years - who knows. You can, also, see Gibraltar and Morocco from the house. Wonderful spot!
Anyone, to cut a long story short, this man does an awful lot for the conservation of storks in this part of Spain (time and money). The Spanish bird conversation society (or something like that) came to visit his farm and tag all the storks (hundreds of them). They put the name of his farm on the tag.
Anyway, one day my friend got a telephone call. It was from a doctor in Mali, in Africa. Saying that they had just eaten a stork for his daughter's wedding. He found the label and that is how he contacted my friend. He had rang up my friend - thinking that he had reared the bird to eat - to thank him for rearing the bird, and helping to make his daughter's wedding so enjoyable and special ..
(the stork having flown across that part of Africa on its way to Egpyt, I guess).
ReplyDeleteActually, I think the stork story is a wonderful story about conservation and connection--two people across the globe connected by the journey of a migrating stork. There are many reason's why stork populations are declining but human kindness is not one of them. Thank you for sharing that story.
ReplyDelete