Eye Contact

Filed in Wildlife on Jan.19, 2010

Revisited the Barn Owl and Short-eared Owl site yesterday,the first time since the snow had melted and what greeted me was more like the landscape of an estuary than the farmland and rough grazing habitat where these owl are spending the winter months.With the access water from the snow and the rain everywhere, the fields were saturated,with knowhere for this extra water to drain off too,the ground was just full of water.This left isolated pockets of ground scattered among the water with little chance of a meal for the owls among this sodden landscape.

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This made it very difficult for the owls to hunt in,but I was really glad to see the male Barn Owl I had spent alot of time with a few weeks ago having survived the unprecedented cold spell of freezing weather we’d just endured.His two favorite stretches of land he prefers to hunt in were underwater so he was at a different spot,some distance away so I hope to catch up with him soon before both these species of owl leave and head to their summer breeding grounds around mid to late February.I was just about to pack up as an impending storm was gathering when a Short-eared Owl landed  to my right on the fence line.

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He hadn’t seen me at first,so I waited for him to get relaxed as he was looking up,down and around at first,I then took a few images and proceeded forward at a snails pace,stopping as he looked my way,when he looked away or started to clean himself I carried on forward until I got about 20 foot away from him where he gave me this stare which you can see above,this was the cut off point for my advances as I read his behaviour as I entered past the ‘comfort’ zone all animals have.Not bad as I would have looked like a large bush coming towards him, he just didn’t no what I was as I moved very slowly, watching the ground where I put my lead foot down as not to tread on something that would give me away.

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I have always found you must read the signs the subject will give you,interpret them quickly.eg are they going to move,or fly off,are they cleaning,feeding,resting,happy,troubled and so on, so you can get an understanding if they are agitated by you presence.This will give you valuable time to get the images you want,they may still fly off or move but its better to have done your approach this way because if things go your way you will be able to capture close up and interment moments and truly benefit from the close encounter with the subject you chose to find that day.

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This Short-eared Owl went off hunting before the storm came,as it was the last I saw him,another close moment for me to treasure.If you put into place the simple techniques I have described you too will be able to get quiet close with a lot of patience,self belief and good fieldcraft, so when you get to where you’d like to be with your subject, the easy bit should be pressing your shutter button and composing your images.I will be back very soon to get some better images of both owls I hope and will update my blog.Hope the tips and advice has helped.


2 comments
  1. Jules Cox said:


    Cracking Craig. Beautiful bird. Beautiful shots. Well done.

  2. Liam P said:


    Great images Craig, I love the pose in the last one!

    Getting close to a SEO takes some skill, I have been in full camo and I was still seen and ignored..

    Liam

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