Due to work, I have not been able to photograph these beautiful birds this season. But I want to share a series of 10 shots from one nest that I have documented in the past. This particular pair has been nesting in the neighborhood for many years and continue to raise fledglings every year. During this particular season, they successfully raised 4 fledglings.
It is always a bitter sweet ending to be able to witness such event in nature.
All shot handhold, no sensor trigger used.
1 by Troy LThis image shows the adult returning from hunting. It came back with a lizard, a common diet for Eastern Screech Owl that often nest in Florida's urban neighborhoods. It landed and fed the owlets inside the nest. Camera set up below the nest and trigged with a 100 ft. remote trigger far away from the nest.
2 by Troy LThis is the week where the babies often can be seen at the nest cavity. They often would fight for spots to look out of the nest, curios of what is going on around them. The adult hunted another lizard/gecko and brought it back. The baby was waiting at the cavity.
3 by Troy LThis is the week where the babies often can be seen at the nest cavity. They often would fight for spots to look out of the nest, curios of what is going on around them. The adult hunted another lizard/gecko and brought it back. The baby was waiting at the cavity.
4 by Troy LShortly after landing near the cavity, the adult handed the prey to the baby that was eagerly waiting for its return. The baby swallowed the prey within seconds.
5 by Troy LI have learned from other photographers that owls love to bath. A small pond was created near the nest for the birds in the neighborhood. One evening, both adults came down to the pond. One started to bath in front of me while the other one was watching in the background. I slowly got down low and was able to capture the sequence.
6 by Troy LFirst Fledgling
This evening marked the first night of the fledgling process. I was fortunate enough to witness the fledgling process in my past 6 years spent studying and recording Screech Owls' behaviors. This was the first owlet that fledged the nest. It came out of the cavity, proceeded climbing up to the top of the nest and flew to the oak tree nearby where the parents await.
7 by Troy LAs the babies start to grow and get older, the feeding activities often slow down as they get older. Shortly after the first owlet left the nest, the adult brought back a Caterpillar and fed this owlet at the cavity.
8 by Troy LThe adult did not feed the owlets that remain in the cavity much that evening. After the first owlet left the nest, adult was calling and encourage the next owlet to leave the nest. The ones remained in the nest were stubborn. At one point, the adult landed on top of the cavity and was calling and trying to encourage the grey morph owlet to leave the nest.
IMAGE: https://live.staticflickr.com/7822/33691718048_6ce6227273_o.jpg
9 by Troy LThe grey morph owlet continued to ignore the adult's call. But the red morph baby was the second one that left the nest that evening. It climbed to the top of the nest while the grey morph remained at cavity.
IMAGE: https://live.staticflickr.com/7890/46653084805_a027bac73c_o.jpg
10 by Troy LThe red morph owlet finally built up enough courage and took off towards the oak tree nearby to join its parents and sibling. The fledgling process got the grey morph owlet that was at the cavity excited. It came out as far as it could, looking at its parents and the siblings.
