My First Owl

We (a local Audubon Society group) stumbled across this owl while warbler hunting this morning. One of the birders panned right on him while following a warbler flitting around a tree. The owl must have had a rough night because he wasn't about to put on a show for anyone. And man was he buried in amongst the branches and leaves. It was almost impossible to find an angle to shoot.

I took a bunch of photos handheld then returned with tripod and took more while waiting for him to do something... anything. Nada for about an hour. So these are the best images I got.

Someone said it was a Screech Owl but its seemed too big for an 8 1/2" Screech. So help with id please. Great Horned? The color doesn't look right and not big enough.

And C&C is welcomed and appreciated.

I think you did very well under these difficult circumstances. Congrats on your first owl!

It looks a lot like a red morph Eastern screech.

dazzlebea wrote in post #3119249
I think you did very well under these difficult circumstances. Congrats on your first owl!

Thanks Bea. It was quite a challenge. I could only really shoot pretty much straight up. I kept circling the tree and there were only two spots where I could get any type of look at the owl. This one was from the back but he had his head turned over his shoulder. The other was a frontal view but he looked like the headless owl. I may post one of those images later just for the heck of it.

gregster wrote in post #3119363
It looks a lot like a red morph Eastern screech.

Thanks Gregster. That was my first thought. But at 30-35 feet up the tree he just looked bigger than 8-9 inches.

Anyone else with an id. Is it a Screech Owl? Any other C&C will be appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

Nice catch Ed. My book agrees with an Eastern Screech Owl.

canonloader wrote in post #3120024
Nice catch Ed. My book agrees with an Eastern Screech Owl.

Thanks Mitch. I am looking through the other 100+ images to see if there is anything worthwhile.

Here's one last photo and the closest I was able to come to a full body shot.

Congrats Ed, thats one I dont have.

bromm wrote in post #3120872
Congrats Ed, thats one I dont have.

Thanks Trevor. I don't believe the Screech Owl's range extends that far north. I think it ends below Maine.

Oh man, I'm so jealous! Awesome shots, I've never seen a red morph Screech owl! Tough to shoot through all those leaves (spring is a mixed blessing!) but you did really well.

It is a red phase screech owl.

There are three screech owl color morphs: gray, brown and red. The red morph can be common, or fairly rare, depending partly on geographic region. According to Sibley, as much as 60 percent of the screech owl population in Mideastern states (Ohio to Virginia) is made up of red morphs, while only 7 percent of the Great Plains population is made up of reds.

In general, northern screech owls are a bit larger and fluffier than southerns, also according to Sibley.

Screech owls caught roosting during the day rarely put on any kind of show, and often won't even open their eyes. Small birds such as chickadees will taunt and harass screech owls in daytime, and the belief is that the large bold eye of the owl is one way the small birds spot them.

Nice find and shot

Hi folks,

Just got back from another warbler birding expedition. Each one just further highlights the BIG differences between birding and bird photography. They see a Blue-Headed Vireo in the tops of a 60 foot tree and they're happy. So am I but it doesn't do me a darn bit of good with my camera and 400mm lens. Particularly when it is backlit, etc. Each time out, I am lucky of I come back with one or two birds photographed. Yesterday it was a Black and White Warbler and the Eastern Screech Owl. Today it was a pair to Tree Swallows and a Rufous-Sided Towhee.

calicokat wrote in post #3123093
Nice find and shot

Thanks. While these are just 4 of nearly 100 shots that I took, I was glad that I got at least some that turned out ok. It was difficult shooting pretty much straight up the tree and through all those leaves and branches.

stevefossimages wrote in post #3122961
It is a red phase screech owl.

There are three screech owl color morphs: gray, brown and red. The red morph can be common, or fairly rare, depending partly on geographic region. According to Sibley, as much as 60 percent of the screech owl population in Mideastern states (Ohio to Virginia) is made up of red morphs, while only 7 percent of the Great Plains population is made up of reds.

In general, northern screech owls are a bit larger and fluffier than southerns, also according to Sibley.

Screech owls caught roosting during the day rarely put on any kind of show, and often won't even open their eyes. Small birds such as chickadees will taunt and harass screech owls in daytime, and the belief is that the large bold eye of the owl is one way the small birds spot them.

Thanks for all the info Steve. Sibley's sounds like an excellent reference. I may get one someday. Wait, I did order one and Amazon (well more correctly the USPS) has lost it. I was told to wait until 5/1 before filing a claim through Amazon! So eventually, hopefully, I will have a copy! Again thanks for the all the info. I really appreciate it.

And yes, the little songbirds could have cared less that he was in the tree. They just kept on flitting all over the place.

ngannet wrote in post #3122712
Oh man, I'm so jealous! Awesome shots, I've never seen a red morph Screech owl! Tough to shoot through all those leaves (spring is a mixed blessing!) but you did really well.

Thanks Bob. You would have had to see it to believe it. A path splits around a small stand of trees and the owl was in one of those trees with people walking, jogging and cycling on both sides. There I am with the tripod, camera and 400mm lens. And I kept moving back and forth from one small area where I could get a front perspective through the leaves to one small back perspective where I could get the same. When I was shooting, I had the center column extended way too far and the camera pointed pretty much straight up. During all that time (I was there nearly an hour), I had exactly one person stop and ask what I was looking at.

When I got home I told my wife that I must have taken 100 images of the owl and didn't think any would turn out alright. As I started to scan though them, I was pleased with some of the images. Not great but pretty good, I thought, given the circumstances.

So again, thanks all.

Ed, I feel your pain. Going after bird images while in the company of bird watchers is a recipe for frustration. Different goals demand different approaches.

In a birding group, they're all ready to head to the next place as soon as everyone has seen and Identified the bird in question, while — unless it's a tame species staying close in excellent light in front of an excellent background — I don't even bother to try to take pictures of a bird like that with a dozen people keeping it hepped up and at a distance.

I have gotten some nice images of birdwatchers that way, though.

Also, once you get the Sibley guide, check out "The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior." Great companion to the ID guide, and full of an amazing amount of information on bird prehistory, families of birds and individual species' behavior.

Nice work!

I love these kinds of finds. Steve's right, it's difficult to shoot birds with a group. Good job getting what you did.