Owls!!

Male Powerful owl bringing up a pellet.

Great shot of both of them, but a great detail shot of the inside of the male's mouth. Where are you shooting from? You almost look level with them, all my shots (I've only found one, they're not common in Canberra) are from underneath, looking down at me.

jholeana wrote in post #19105530
Great shot of both of them, but a great detail shot of the inside of the male's mouth. Where are you shooting from? You almost look level with them, all my shots (I've only found one, they're not common in Canberra) are from underneath, looking down at me.

That is a very good question to ask!!!

jholeana wrote in post #19105530
Great shot of both of them, but a great detail shot of the inside of the male's mouth. Where are you shooting from? You almost look level with them, all my shots (I've only found one, they're not common in Canberra) are from underneath, looking down at me.

Thanks. POTN gear database does not have the Sony 200-600 so I just choose Sony 100-400.
Both shots with 200-600 with 1.4X TC, so 840mm.
So the longer the focal length, the shooting 'up angle' is reduced.
That is part of it, the fact these Owls are perching not very high helps a lot too.

The parents are roosting close to the hollow where the mangrove trees are not very high. Once the chick(s) fledge, within a few days the parents will lead them out further into the mangroves where there are some taller trees.

Thanks Choderboy. The one that was hanging around in Canberra (and thats about 6 or 7 years ago now) was always very high in the very well foliaged trees, so it was hard enough getting a clear shot of "him" let alone one that looked this close.

DreDaze wrote in post #19082398
the great gray owls of california are their own subspeies...

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2jed​pW4 p-week_20_20_0292r by andre gregoire, on Flickr

What determines them being a subspecies?

T.

TerryWSmith wrote in post #19106456
What determines them being a subspecies?

T.

they are genetically different than other great gray owls.
https://www.nps.gov/yo​se/learn/news/ggowl.ht​m

DreDaze wrote in post #19107085
they are genetically different than other great gray owls.
https://www.nps.gov/yo​se/learn/news/ggowl.ht​m

Great read. Thank you.

Had no idea the population numbers in that area.


T.

TerryWSmith wrote in post #19107493
Great read. Thank you.

Had no idea the population numbers in that area.

T.

yeah, i know they are hard to find in other areas as well...but i feel like the calfornia ones are even harder...so that made this one a pretty exciting find on the year...the adult great gray i posted before is it's mother...the craziest part is that when i first saw this young bird in the nest at maybe a week or two old, the father had been killed by some other bird(tons of feathers plucked in a meadow)...so this little guy was raised solely by mom...didn't think he had much of a chance to be honest...but also was only able to track him down a couple weeks out of the nest, so not sure he made it...but i'm hoping he did

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2jad​XTQ

85 Days since female Powerful owl entered the hollow.
Probably tomorrow or the next day this chick will jump and hopefully reach a branch rather than the ground.
It's only about 8 metres high so needs to make a good first flight.

He was content to watch me, but then he got an unwelcome visitor.

alliben wrote in post #19114860
He was content to watch me, but then he got an unwelcome visitor.

Hosted photo: posted by alliben in
./showthread.php?p=191​14860&i=i267894687
forum: Birds

Hosted photo: posted by alliben in
./showthread.php?p=191​14860&i=i123522545
forum: Birds

Nice shot! What is the unwelcome visitor?

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19114903
Nice shot! What is the unwelcome visitor?

It was a hawk, but when they mixed it up, I couldn't get an ID.

I have spent much time recently watching the progress of my local Powerful owls.
I have copy / pasted this from a Facebook post I made on August 29:

Meet Junior. A young Powerful owl. No idea of sex so I'll use she for now. Junior would have hatched on July 4, give or take a day. On Friday night (August 28) she made 'the jump', left her hollow for the big bad world. When Powls leave the hollow, or fledge, it's a one time, one way event. Leave and don't look back. I went down this morning at 8:16am finding her at a height of around 4 metres in a young Casuarina tree. The branch she was in was tiny and looked as if it would break at any moment. Witnesses advised she was being attacked by Ravens when they arrived a little earlier. So a quick dash for coffee and a bite to eat and I returned for guard duty. On my return I found her surrounded by 5 Ravens. Throughout the day it was easy to scare the Ravens and Currawongs away, at one point there were 9 Ravens and 2 Currawongs waiting for an opportunity. A single Butcherbird turned up briefly, a family of Kookaburras also appeared to be planning an attack. Sulphur crested cockies made a nuisance of themselves trying to deafen Junior. Throughout the day there were several heart stopping moments including around 3pm when Junior probably fell asleep and almost fell out of bed. She hung upside down for a few minutes, planning how she was going to resolve her predicament. Interestingly the Ravens seized their opportunity but launched attacks on the nearby parents and by the time Junior was again upright, 2 Ravens that appeared and were getting ready for an attack on Junior were dispatched by a good size sandstone rock thrown in their direction. On dark, with both parents watching on, Junior made 3 short flights that looked surprisingly well controlled. Hopefully tonight her parents will lure her to a more sensible location to roost during the day where they can be beside her.

As I found her in the morning: