Over the last few weeks a few friends and myself have been going out regularly looking for owls and other night birds. This was triggered by two things. Firstly, one of my friends saw a Southern Boobook Owl sitting on her fence. She managed to get an amazing photo of it too! Then a few nights later she was walking not far from her house and she come across a Barn Owl. Secondly I have just purchased a good quality flash unit. A Nikon Speedlite SB-910. Now I have the tools to be able to get the photos at night.
We have been focussing in a few main areas where we have sighted the Barn Owls regularly. This is on the way to Imbil, on the outskirts of Pomona and Cooran. The Barn Owls have been sighted in these places each time we have gone out looking. On the outskirts of Cooran there are 5 or so individuals within a 1km stretch of road.
I have always been intrigued by owls but had never seen any in this area. Not surprising though as I have never really looked for them as I never had the equipment to be able to get good shots at night.
The first night I went looking with my friends we only saw the one Barn Owl. It was right beside us but unfortunately it flew off onto a dead tree about 60 meters away before any shots were taken. I was pleased with this photo considering the distance at night!!
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| The first Barn Owl located |
A few nights later we saw a few individuals and this one was in a much better place to photograph. The photos below and the one above were taken on the outskirts of Pomona.
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| A Barn Owl from our second expedition |
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| The same Barn Owl from our second expedition |
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| Another Barn Owl from our second expedition |
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| A different angle of the Barn Owl above |
A few night later I went out towards Imbil. I saw another two Barn Owls that night also, close to the side of the road.
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| A Barn Owl heading towards Imbil |
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| The second Barn Owl heading towards Imbil |
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| Barn Owl heading towards Imbil |
The following night my mate and I went out for another look towards Imbil again and out towards Cooran. I was pleased to locate a few frogmouths and owls. The next three photos of the frogmouths I am unsure about. I think they could be Marbled Frogmouths due to the colouring of the eye and feathers, they have the longer bristles above the beak, the beak is shorter and the most distinguishing feature between the two is the graduated tail, which this bird definitely has. I know Tawny Frogmouths can be more brown in colour too, especially the females. The main thing that makes me unsure is the length of the tail. The tail for a Marbled Frogmouth should be longer and they usually come to a point. Also they were just outside a section of rainforest, which is only very small. If anyone could verify these photos for me would be greatly appreciated. As they are more likely to be Tawny Frogmouths I will label them as such.
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
A few minutes after locating the frogmouth above I located a definite Tawny Frogmouth perched in a tree. This photo is not as clear as he was at least 35 meters from me.
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
On the outskirts of Cooran five or more individual Barn Owls were spotted within a 1 km stretch. A couple of them did show well. I could get within a few meters of a couple of the birds. The whole time you could hear them calling back and forth to each other. They have an interesting call that is easily identified.
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| A Barn Owl on the outskirts of Cooran |
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| A Barn Owl perched on one leg |
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| Close up of a Barn Owl's head |
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| A Barn Owl on the outskirts of Cooran |
The last few nights I have had a look around hoping to see a Southern Boobook or a Masked Owl. I have seen heaps of Barn Owls in all the same locations but none of the others as yet. Last night one of my mates joined me in looking for about three hours. We heard two Masked Owls flying through my property. We attempted to follow the call but once they had landed they stopped calling before we could locate them. It was a definite call as it can be distinguished from the other owls relatively easily.
On my property there were at least 10 to 15 Southern Boobooks calling out most nights during the Summer months. I haven't heard them for at least two months. I am unsure of why they have stopped calling though as they are meant to stay within their range. I will keep on looking anyway for the time being as I know they were common here not long ago and now I have heard the Masked Owl on the property I will hopefully get to photograph it in the near future.
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| One of the Barn Owls from the last trip |
More updates and pics coming soon.
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Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY
Ashley, the frogmouths are all Tawny, see some notes here:
ReplyDeletehttp://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/marbled-frogmouth-tawny-frogmouth.html
Nice to see so many Barn Owls.
Greg
Did you use speedlight for these pictures of barn owls ? Am just trying to photograph them but not in the low light.
ReplyDeleteMartin
email : mybirdbeauty@yahoo.in
Hi Martin. I do use my Speedlite SB-910 for all my night photography of birds. It is an amazing flash and allows me to take a photo as close as needed up to full zoom on a 400mm lens. It can rapid fire without overheating. I also use a portable spotlight to spot the bird to allow the camera to be able to focus on the bird in the distance. The built in flash will not allow photos like this unless it is at very close range.
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