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Tuesday 4 August 2020

MY PREVIOUS POST PART 2. THE BARN OWLS.

Unfortunately due to a glitch in Blogger, the Barn Owl update did not get [posted, the whole of the second half of my post was missing so I'm doing a seperate post purely on the Owls. Richard found that sometimes when he came onto the post the Owl images were in place and on other visits non were on.  Thank you Richard for the assistance.
These birds are causing more confusion than enough, even the experts are in a state of turmoil with these birds. I have been out most evenings monitoring the goings on except when we have had rain. I have been attempting to get some more images of the interloper leaving the small box, the resident male is always the first to leave the safety of the box, usually up to an hour prior the interloper showing and with the interloper I get very little warning of his departure, with the resident male he comes to the entrance and has  a look about to see the coast is clear before departing, whereas with the interloper the first I see of him is as he bursts out from the entrance, its almost as if he has a catapult launch similar to on an Aircraft Carrier, I sat on the evening of the 29th July, the resident male having been out and returned with a mouse before leaving again, so I then trained the camera on the entrance to the small box, unfortunately even though firing the remote all I managed was a very  blurred tip of his tail , I was decidedly un pleased   but thought I would  persevere the following evening, so on the 30th I  sat again  all at the ready  only for both birds to exit the large box, the only good thing for the evening being the resident male came into the entrance that much earlier allowing me to shoot at a much lower ISO 12800 thereby getting some better images, these images being the header and the first three of the post, the time being 20.20 hrs, he then decided it early for him and returned into the box for another 40 minutes  before eventually departing an returning with a mouse the some 40 minutes later at 22.20 hrs the interloper came out of the large box  and flew away, I did manage a very poor quality image , a due to the speed of his departure and  it was virtually dark, surprising how the nights are already drawing in, I was out again last night and he again left the large box so we have 2 males and a female in the large box, something is not as it should be.
On a lighter note, I sat in my hide last week and heard a Barn Owl call, so I carefully opened the top of the hide only to see a male Barn Owl sitting in the tree looking at me only about 1.80 metres away, I think he is monitoring me.









Male Barn Owl, Large Box.

This is as he first came out, had a look about then decided he was earlier than he should be. 




Being able to shoot at a much lower ISO the images are a better quality.









Decided he was early and returned into box. 




Previous evening the resident male leaving the box  at his leisure.








He sat fpr a short time on the front of the box.




Before flying up onto his favourite post. 









He sat for several minutes having a good look about. 



















After this he was away hunting and after a while the interloper departed from the small box.









The resident male leaving the large box for the second time and time  for me to go in.




Luckily I remained in the hide and caught the interloper male as he departed the large box.. as you can tell its was virtually dark and everything was flashing on the camera and the lens was struggling to focus but that's what happens when you stay out to watch Barn Owls. The time was 22.20hrs.








Thank you for your visit, Ihope you have enjoyed it as much a I did in the getting of the images. I apologise for the mess with the previous post


About Me;


Titus White:
Hi I am Richard Peglers friend Titus White, and those who follow Richards posts will understand the name and reason for it. I have been birding with Richard for 3 years and a volunteer at Rutland Water on the Osprey Project for 2 years. My early images were taken on a Nikon D80 with a 70 - 200mm lens. I updated the lens to a 70 - 300mm VR lens but still was not happy with the results. Eventually when Nikon announced the D7100 I decided to change so upgraded the camera and also invested in a Sigma 50 - 500mm lens.
I first met Richard through Arthur Costello as I was having the occasional visit from Little Owls on our land. We eventually found the Little Owls through another contact about 100 metres away. Photo's will follow on future posts.
I have recently upgraded my camera to full frame, this is a challenge I am at the moment enjoying trying to get the best out of the beast.
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