Owlets finally make an appearance

Last night June 7th, I was out on my screen porch and heard an unfamiliar chattering from the vicinity of my owl box. I turned on the flood lights which illuminate my backyard and the area where the nest box sits to see what I could see. Now before I go further, I need to qualify as I'm certain some are thinking, "my goodness the light shines right on the box..."

This isn't far from the truth, however, the light shined toward the vacant lot before the owls took residence and it was on often as they were selecting their nest site. Every time kids play in the backyard at or after dark. Our swing set sits directly below the box and the pool is within 20'. Such is the nature of a small backyard, and fortunately for me these suburban owls are extremely tolerant of all our activities, including mowing, weed-eating, screaming children, and yes even the light that sometimes floods the area. I will say this, the images give the impression that there was a lot more light than there actually was though. This is really more of an ambient light in reality, but the scope and camera picked up a lot more in these images. These images were shot at a full 1 second exposure at ISO 800, with the exposure compensation run up to +2.

Eastern Screech-Owlet, digiscoped with Leica APO Televid 77 and C-Lux 2 camera

We now return to the story... after I turned on the light, I walked out and strained my eyes toward the darkness of the box and could see a small gray oval up there. I ran back into the house and grabbed the scope for a better view of our 1st baby sighting for me, my family, and the visiting neighbors. As we watched the youngster (who I've affectionately named "Porky") at the box mouth, I could still here the chattering from inside the box. As we watched, one of the adults swung in with a large Palmetto Bug and fed it to Porky. The adult then lit on the top rail of the swing set a mere 8' away from us. Within moments, the adult flew straight up and briefly lit on the trunk of the dead snag about 20' above owl box, and swung back down to a perch just outside the box with yet another Palmetto Bug (for the uninitiated in the way of Florida's sub-tropical bugs) you might call this a big fat cockroach!

While others were enjoying the show, I decided to go get my camera and adapter to try my hand at night digiscoping, despite a complete lack of success with this in the past.

a second owlet jostles for the prime position at the box mouth

By my fifth imaging attempt with continual readjusting of settings, I finally got a result that was light enough to see the subject, but at a full second exposure the slightest motion by the owl blurred the image completely. Since the adults were coming and going (even with the light on and a small crowd watching from 25' away), I decided to experiment some more realizing this was a rare opportunity to witness nature in action. I set my tiny point & shoot camera up to record in bursts of three shots at a time and used the 2 second delay, hoping that the bird(s) would sit still for a full second for at least one of these three images.

As I played with my camera, Porky sucked down a third Palmetto Bug, causing "Junior" to fly up and begin to grapple for position. Porky fluffed up and bit at Junior's toes to keep him back out of the prime feeding zone. In the shot above, Junior stands on Porky's back!

Mama Owl delivers the goods, 7 June '07

Of course in this neighborhood we try to stress quality parenting, so when "Mama" owl, brought a delicious looking Tree-frog, she shot past Porky and Junior and dropped to the floor of the box. Excited chittering sounds soon emanated from the box, letting me know there must be at least 3 owlets in there and perhaps more. After a while, Junior dropped down to join the frog feast, but Porky (stubborn as ever) wouldn't surrender the primo spot (not even for succulent frog legs).

Mama re-emerges while Porky swings around to watch siblings with frog

After a few moments of chaotic scrambling and more hissy chattering, mama re-emerged with a blood-tipped bill undoubtedly from divying the vittles.

adult Eastern Screech-Owl digiscoped with APO Televid 77 spotting scope and C-Lux2 camera

Mama flew down to a perch just 4' below the box and all was quiet for a moment. The chicks apparently satiated for the moment, had stopped bickering, while mama contently perched on her favorite snag with the signs of a successful kill and good parenting still evident on her bill. I took one parting shot, VERY appreciative of the opportunity to witness this spectacle of nature, then retired to the house and switched the light off for the night to allow the family to continue their nightly routine undisturbed.

Last disclaimer: looking at the times on the first dark frame to the last, I spent a total of 20 minutes photographing the birds and probably less than 10 more viewing the birds before bringing the camera out. The rest of the night was theirs alone. Although, from the birds' behaviors, I really don't feel they gave me the respect I deserve anyway! "Hello, I'm a would be dangerous predator, woo hoo I'm right in front of you..." ;)