Several Crows and a Barred Owl...

On Tuesday, 12-29-20, while on a fat bike ride I came across several crows making a lot of noise. I stopped my bike to look and listen. I figured there was an owl that they were pestering. There were at least 5 crows I saw that were dive bombing  something in the distance.

I turned my bike around on the trail and in the video I saw two deer running across the trail that I didn’t see at the time, because I was looking up in the trees for whatever the crows were aggressively attacking.

Shortly, I saw a Barred Owl being chased by a couple crows.  The owl landed in a tree right along the trail about 15 yards from me. The crow directly behind the owl swooped down and pecked the owl on the top of the head before landing above the owl.

When the owl landed it immediately looked at me for the 4 seconds it stayed there. I’m sure I’m reading more into the “look” that the owl was giving me, but if the owl could speak I’m sure he would have asked for “help”. The crows weren’t giving up in their aggressive pursuit of the owl.

Once again, the owl flew off with the two crows giving chase and at least one other crow joining in. The owl landed a short distance away. I thought I could see the owl so I was going to go into the woods and try to scare the crows away or maybe keep them occupied on me. I felt bad for the owl. The underbrush was pretty thick so I didn’t get far before the owl was forced to fly away again. This was the fourth time the owl flew in the few minutes since I stopped. This time the owl was flying toward an open field and the owl certainly couldn’t out fly the crows

Where the owl was initially located was mostly deciduous trees that was very open because of the lack of leaves, so the owl was having a tough time trying to escape to cover from the crows.

Well, I hope the owl survived…I still can see the “look” on the owls face when it was looking at me.

Looking for my glove...

I was out on my snowshoes today looking for a glove I lost while out photographing "Hoot" a couple days ago...

 

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"Hoot" and "Give a Hoot" ... Great Horned Owls

On Friday, 12-25-20, I went out to see if I could find "my" Great Horned Owl. We had a blizzard a couple days earlier, so I decided to haul my camera gear out in my sled. It was 12:30 pm when I left the house pulling the sled with the temperature at 5 degrees, but with light winds.

By 1 pm I was in the area where I wanted to go to start searching for the owl. I took a cell phone picture of a large oak tree with the conditions in the woods. I posted this picture that I was going to need some luck finding the GHO today. What I didn’t know there was a Great Horned Owl in that tree. When I spotted it it was already awake and alert. This was different…I wondered why?Normally, when I find the female GHO she is usually sleeping or she’s not overly concerned with my presence and lets me go about whatever I’m going to do which is take pictures of her.

I had left my camera gear on the sled, but I had my GoPro going when I found the male GHO in the oak tree. I watched a squirrel quickly approaching the owl in the tree. The owl flew off when it got too close. The owl didn’t fly far so I walked that way very slowly. I wasn’t exactly sure which tree it landed in so I kept scanning the area while slowly walking its direction. Well, while scanning the area I caught a glimpse of it out of my peripheral vision flying back the way it had come. I watched it as it flew back to the same oak tree where I first saw it.

I walked back to my sled going in a different direction from the owl. While at the sled I heard voices in the woods coming my direction. I didn’t want to move around with them coming my way. It was a two people with their dog. They finally spotted me, waved and then veered off. I figured the owl was probably no longer around, but I would take a look from a distance.

I didn’t see the owl so I glassed it. I still don’t see it. I spent at least 10 minutes looking the tree all over, but the owl must have flown off again.

The conifer where I normally can find the female GHO was nearby, so I walked in that direction and glassed it. Basically all I saw was snow on a conifer. I walked in a wide semi-circle to the back of the tree coming across a deer bed, but now I can make out the back of the owl. It was difficult to see her, but I could tell she wasn’t alarmed and this was a different GHO.

Right away I knew this was the female owl, who I call “Hoot”, who is much bigger in size that her male friend, “Give a Hoot” She definitely wasn’t the owl in the oak tree so that had to be “Give a Hoot” the name I gave the male GHO. The few times I’ve seen “Give a Hoot” he has been very active during the daytime. He doesn't usually stick around, although today he flew off as the squirrel quickly approached him.

I walked back to my camera/tripod and took it to the area where I should be able to get the best shot. I tried looking with my eyes and all I saw was snow on a conifer. So I glassed the conifer again…same thing, snow on a conifer. I spent several minutes looking through my binoculars looking for the owl that I know was in the tree. Eventually, I located her, but I really don’t have a good shot of her. Based upon my prior photo sessions with her I know she won’t be fully alert until shortly before sunset. So today I'll have a couple hours with her before she is fully awake.

Although I took several images of her there’s not much differences in the images because she was tucked in behind the snow on the branches. I decided to take more video of her to show more of her behavior. Over 2 hours later she woke up and started going through her wake up routine that I’ve witness in the past.

I was watching her through my viewfinder at 3:50 pm when she began hooting. I quickly reached up and thought I hit the record button for the video. I missed her four hoots in the span of five minutes. My hands were pretty cold when I thought I hit the record button on the camera. I was so intent on watching her call that I didn’t realize I wasn’t recording. While listening to her call, I could faintly hear “Give a Hoot” calling back in the distance.

Once I realized I wasn’t recording I turned the video on and double checked it to make sure it was now recording. It took her a while to call again, but I got to watch her do her normal owl routine while waiting. The more she called the closer “Give a Hoot” was heard in the distance, but I never saw him.

“Hoot” ended up flying to two different trees after leaving the conifer, but she continued to call "Give a Hoot" many times. He was getting closer and closer. I’ve heard “Hoot” make calls, hoots and screeches, in the past; but this was the first time I saw her do it in person. Also, the first time I’ve heard then both talking to each other. I heard “Hoot” call about fifty times. It was a magical time in the woods! While I was packing up my gear the two love birds were still hooting back and forth to one another…

I know the video is very long, but I found watching “Hoot” ’s behavior very fascinating. You can skip the first part of the video where I was searching for her and go to 6:42  which is the time I found for to watch her behavior, including the one leg stretch, and listen to the both of them calling one another.

Barred Owl...the video

Here's the video of me locating the Barred Owl on Tuesday, 12-22-20. We got to spend a little over 3 hours together. I had to go home, since it was dark and it had some hunting to do :)

Barred Owl

Today, 12-22-20, I went out a little earlier than I normally do to go look for “my” Great Horned Owl. I checked her normal hang-outs, but I couldn’t locate her. I continued walking the woods in case I could hear her call, but very unlikely with all the noise from the high winds.  

After an hour and a half I decided to sit down to listen and scan the area for “my” GHO. I took my backpack off, set it down and was going to sit on the ground with my back against a large tree. I was just about to sit, but instead I decided to sit on a log a few feet further away.

I turned around after a couple minutes and sat down on the log.  Well, I look up and see a Barred Owl watching me from a distance of maybe 12 yards. My backpack with my camera gear is 5 to 6 feet away from me, but closer to the owl. If I want to get any pictures of the owl I need to get up and get my backpack.

I got out my camera that already had my 1.4x teleconverter attached and put on my 500mm lens. I took a shot of the owl and could  see that I’m too close. I backed up a little while still on the log. That’s better but not what I need if I want to do some video. I ended up about 22 yards from the owl. The owl was busy sleeping so she wasn’t concerned with whatever I was doing, I also removed the teleconverter after a few shots.

I located the owl at 2pm and I watched it until a few minutes past 5pm.It slept most of the time. I hoped to get some flying shots of the owl when it woke up, but it never flew away until I was all packed up and it was completely dark out. I was able to get a shot of the owl regurgitating a pellet and a couple episodes of “white wash”. We all know what that is! I didn't include a picture of this, but the first episode was on video.

 

Pine Grosbeak...

 Male and female Grosbeak taken at the Sax-Zim Bog on 12-17-20.

Chuck

Northern Hawk Owl...

I went up to the Sax-Zim Bog from 12-16-20 to 12-18-20. I caught the glimpse of a Great Gray Owl early one morning while it was hunting, but I couldn't get a shot of it. Then on my way to Grand Rapids 15 minutes after sunset I saw a Great Gray Owl in a tree along side of the road. I stopped, but it was too dark to get a usable image. 

I was able to photograph this Northern Hawk Owl on all three days. He sure likes to perch on the power poles. I also looked for a Snowy Owl around the fields a couple mornings and one evening.

 

 

Great Horned Owl

The video from today showing me setting up to photograph and of the owl...

I wanted to go out while it was snowing to try and locate and photograph the owl today,12-13-20.

 

 

 

Great Horned Owl...the video

On 12-10-20 I went out to check on "my" Great Horned Owl. I found her where I figured she would be, although I glassed the tree from a distance and I didn't see her. Once again, I walked right up to her in her tree before I saw her so I backtracked to get out my camera gear out of my backpack. Once I got it all ready I made my way to where I could get the best view. I was about 22 yards from her tree. It would have been another fabulous view EXCEPT for one small horizontal branch distracting her neck area. I only took a few photographs since that horizontal branch was very distracting...to me. Since I knew the photos weren't going to get any better with that branch in the way, I took mostly video clips of her. I was hoping to capture some of her behaviors including her wake-up routine like I captured with photographs a few days earlier. Today I was with her for 2 hours and fifty minutes with the first hour and forty minutes where she slept and moved very little. After she woke up she changed positions on the branch and she appeared to be actively hunting.

Great Horned Owl... 12-10-20

 This afternoon I went out to check on "my" Great Horned Owl. I found her where I figured she would be, although I glassed the tree from a distance and I didn't see her. Once again, I walked right up to her in her tree before I saw her so I backtracked to get out my gear. Once I got it all ready I made my way to where I could get the best view. I was about 22 yards from her tree. It would have been another fabulous view EXCEPT for one small horizontal branch blocking/distracting her neck area. I only took a few photographs since that horizontal branch was very distracting. Since I knew the photos weren't going to get any better with that branch in the way, I took mostly video clips of her. I was hopping she would do her wake-up routine again. Today I was with her for 2 hours and fifty minutes with the first hour and forty minutes where she slept and moved very little. After she woke up she changed positions on the branch and she appeared to be actively hunting.

 

 Chuck

Sax-Zim Blog Area...

 The first part of this week I went up to the Sax-Zim Bog area to hopefully find some owls to photograph. That was my main focus, but that didn't work out so well for me. Here are a few other images...

 

 

Sleeping Beauty... Great Horned Owl

I had a couple short video clips, so I combined them with the photos... 12/05/20

 

Great Horned Owl... 12-05-20

 

This morning I met up with a friend to photograph a Great Horned Owl in a new area for me. Well, we didn’t find the GHO, but we found and photographed a Barred Owl.

Afterwards, I initially planned to go to an area where I have photographed a different Barred Owl in the past, but since I got some photos already I decided to go find “my” Great Horned Owl.

I found her after a short walk, but once again she was hard to spot. If I took one step backwards I couldn’t see her. I was actually so close to her when I spotted her that I backtracked a distance to get my tripod and camera out of my backpack without disturbing her.

I walked back to the spot where I first saw her and took a shot just to show all the branches in front of her. Then I walked further away from her and uphill for my second obstructed shot.

It appeared she wasn’t bothered by my presence as I watched her through my binoculars. Once I got those shots I had to make my way 180 degrees to get to the front of her, but walking in a wide half circle. Now I was about 20 yards away with an unobstructed view of her except a small twig off to one side of her face. I move my tripod about a foot to my right and that solved the problem.

I have photographed this same owl several times this past week or so and each time I’ve been wearing the same outerwear. I don’t know if she recognizes me or what, but she never became alarmed or fully alert by my presence and now she has an unobstructed view of me.

We got to spend some quality time together today. Well, actually she slept for 65 minutes while I just stood around waiting for her to wake up, then for 10 minutes I got to watch her waking up routine. She open and shut her mouth several times, she would scratch her face with her feet, she began rotating her neck faster and raster going almost completely around, she would stretch her legs and wings. I found her routine very fascinating.

After her fully waking up she finally flew off a short distance and made a couple calls. A couple days ago she was with the male, so while she was sleeping I scanned the area for the male but never did see him.