A fine Thursday afternoon could not keep me at my work and I headed off to find some Short eared owls and there they were. Two perched on the fence looking into the bright sunshine. The couple watching them from the road said they had been there half an hour and another hour later they were still there. If not for visual aids allowing you to see that they were watching everything going on, you may imagine them to be stuffed.
MH joined me and did a quick sketch whilst describing a third bird he had seen go down on prey earlier. The two birds on the fence were bomb proof even when a Kestrel flew just a couple of feet over both their heads. I tried to get closer up the fence line but could not get a decent support so hand held was the order of the day. I did recover a pellet though so will investigate what they are eating. These two must be well fed to just sit there for two hours. The nearer bird had a very rich plumage and the ear tufts were clearly visible but the farthermost bird had a very muted head colour making it appear smaller, possibly a juvenile.
The nearer bird dropped to the ground, photographers arrived and we all waited till the light faded but the remaining bird steadfastly refused to do anything. It was a nice day so why bother.
No comments:
Post a Comment