Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Hunting Success!

Well here's another post on the Barred Owls in our yard. Tonight we witnessed two of the immature owls fighting over a kill. They were right out in front of the house on the ground yelling at each other. I grabbed my camera and ran out onto the deck only to discover that I didn't have the CF card in my camera! So I ran back into the house, grabbed the card and dashed back outside only to find that the owls had moved off to the side of the house and into the woods. I moved that way slowly and into the woods. They were so distracted with each other that I didn't even warrant a look until I got in closer. As soon as he turned to look at me I stopped and took the following shots. The shots show what looks to be a rabbit.

This shows the owl with its wings covering what appears to be a rabbit:
Barred Owl (1 of 4)

Here the owl was moving up the limb of the tree and you can clearly see the rabbit:
Barred Owl (2 of 4)

Another photo of the owl and its prey:
Barred Owl (3 of 4)

I snapped this photo of the owl flying away, not the greatest shot but I thought it was worth posting:
Barred Owl (4 of 4)

All of the shots were taken at a high ISO in the woods so they are a bit noisy and not terribly in focus, but it sure was fun to witness this exchange.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Another Back Yard Visitor

Well, this littel guy has been hanging out around the feeders the last few days or so. He's pretty territorial! When he's staged on the branches near the feeder anytime another bird flys in he gives chase. This includes the Downy Woodpeckers and the White-breasted Nuthatches that are constantly on our suet log. I got a shot of him this morning while he was guarding "his" feeder. :)

Eastern Wood Pewee:
Eastern Wood Pewee

Friday, July 13, 2007

More Yard Birds

Well I've been on the couch for about a week now with Bronchitis. It's really not as much fun as it sounds. ;) Anyway, I sat out on the deck today for about an hour and watched the bird feeders. It was about all I could manage. We've had a pair of immature Red-bellied woodpeckers in our yard for the past few weeks. I took a shot of this one today. The other is actually beginning to show a bit of red on it's head. It's not that great of shot since it was in the shade and at high ISO. Anyway, here ya go . . .

Immature Red-bellied Woodpecker:
Immature Red-bellied

I took this shot yesterday through the window and it shows about 1/3 of the Turkeys that were actually under the feeders.

Turkeys:
Turkeys

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Nictating Membrane

I was going back through some of my photos of the Sandhill Cranes I took at the end of June and I came across this photo of a crane that clearly shows the nictating membrane on the birds eye. I thought it was really interesting to see this, my wife thought it was a bit creepy. :)

Happy 4th of July to All!

Sandhill Crane (It's easier to see in the larger version of the photo. Click on it to see a larger version on Flickr.):
Sandhill Crane Eye