A five year old story comes to its final conclusion. At least I hope it’s final.
It’s been almost a year since I took any decent photos of a Short-eared Owl and that owl was perched on a speed limit sign so calling those images “decent” is a stretch. In many areas of northern Utah SEOW’s used to be fairly common during the breeding season but now I very rarely see them. They’re known to be a nomadic species but I’ve still been very concerned about them.
But six days ago I finally found one. When I pulled up on ‘him’ he had a vole in his talons which he gobbled down in one gulp soon after I got him in my viewfinder. I wasn’t very close to him but dang, was I ever glad to see him.
I had just begun my long drive home that morning when I found the owl but a few minutes later and just up the road from where I found him I spotted…
this Willet on a large boulder. The Willet was on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and it was back-lit but I turned around for it anyway, just in case I got lucky with a takeoff or flight shot. I got as close to the Willet as I could, using a large bush on the side of the road as “cover” for my pickup. It makes birds less nervous if there’s a physical obstruction between them and me. But the Willet was too strongly backlit to get any photos I like and it didn’t take off while I was there. Here he’s only moving from one part of the rock to another..
OK, at this point I need to remind readers of a little history. It’ll be old news for regular followers of Feathered Photography but not everyone who reads my blog is a regular follower.
On June 19, 2016 Mia and I rescued this fledgling Short-eared Owl that was hung up on a barbed wire fence. Mia first spotted one of the youngster’s parents perched on a bush that in this photo is just a few feet out of frame to the right and then we found this poor little guy hanging pitifully from the barbed wire. I couldn’t get him off the wire without further injuring his left wing so reluctantly I cut it with some wire cutters I had in my pickup.
Before we left to area to deliver the young owl to rehab (he’s now an education bird named Galileo) I told the nearest rancher I could find that I’d cut the fence and offered to pay for repairs. He was incredulous that I’d cut the fence. When I told him what I’d done his very words were “You cut the fence for an owl? We hit them on the road all the time.”. He acted like me cutting the fence was the end of the world and that I’d done it for no good reason.
So of course I figured the fence would be repaired almost immediately since it’s that important. But I’ve checked that fence almost weekly for nearly five years and it had never been fixed.
Here’s where the coincidence comes in. By chance it just so happened that the bush I sneaked up behind to photograph the Willet was the same bush that Galileo’s upset parent was perched in when we found him five years earlier. While I was pulled up on the Willet I glanced back at the fence behind me and miracle of miracles it had finally.
been repaired. After five long years of me stressing about that fence and the repair bill that might be sent to me it was finally fixed. You can see the repair on the second wire strand from the top. It must have taken the rancher all of 15 minutes to fix it, tops.
All this leaves me wondering, if cutting the wire was such a big damned deal why did it take them five years to fix it? I also wonder if they’ll send me a repair bill since I offered to pay for it and left my contact info with the rancher I talked to. Time will tell I guess.
I’ll close with a bird-spotting challenge for my readers. There’s a bird in the photo above, do you see it?
If you squint while looking closely you should be able to see the Willet I’d been photographing still on the large boulder at upper right. And yes, it’s the same boulder we see at the upper left in the previous photo of Galileo hanging on the fence.
The perspective looks very different because I took the last photo with my cell phone and I was shooting at a different angle.
Ron
Hi Ron,
An excellent article – I concur with your thoughts about the barbed wire and its slow repair. I was a mobile ranger in the Northern Territory in Australia fo seven years and we always carried cutters and a wire strainer and cut and repaired fences as necessary. I hated fencing and found stringing them effectively in a climate with huge seasonal temperature extremes an art form.
Thanks, Gary. Wow, I’ll bet you could tell some stories about your seven years as a mobile ranger in Australia.
And he did such an exceptional (not) job on that fence repair too.
I am so glad that you saw (finally) a SEO – and that it was a successful hunter. The willet is a bonus.
EC, I thought that vole might be intended for chicks but apparently not.
We can hope. And the presence of that beautiful and skilled hunter feeds that hope.
Striking view of the owl– love those eyes. I wasted too much time looking for “Waldo,” thinking it was very well camouflaged. Big groan when I finally peeked at the answer. Should have paid attention to the clues.
Kenneth, I was at Ford getting the oil changed on my pickup when your comment email came in. Your “Waldo” comment brought a smile to my face in a place where I seldom smile so thanks for that.
My eye is always drawn to SEOWs’ fat, fluffy legs/feet, well-displayed in that first photo (and, of course, the beautiful eyes). So glad that Galileo, though permanently injured, was able to grow into a handsome adult, too, thanks to you, Mia, the rehabbers and HawkWatch. One of the best stories ever.
Willet is handsome, too — and a great boulder for his perch, but it seems like such an odd, dry habitat for a bird that belongs at shoreline. There must be water somewhere within range, though not at all apparent in the last image …
I think the statute of limitations runs out as of June 19 on your “payment due” to whoever owns that evil barbed-wire fence! 🤞
The arrogance of some people makes me nauseas. If someone was to accidentally hit one of his cows on the road he would sing a different tune, he wouldn’t say, “Oh it’s just a Cow!” Cow, Owl or Painted Turtle (someone run over one by a local pond) it doesn’t matter, life is life. Ron, I am short on patience for dumb asses.
Now, changing the subject, your Flycatcher, I see a yellow blush on the sides which narrows it down a bit, I got some shots of what appears to be a Flycatcher with a little hook on the upper mandible but has no yellow blush just whitish underneath and gray on top and the head cap is a slightly darker gray and no full white eye ring, only a bit of whitish colour at the back portion of the eye.
Shirley, a highly skilled birder I know is confident that my flycatcher is a Willow Flycatcher. I’m taking that as a positive ID.
Chris, the Great Salt Lake isn’t too far away but there isn’t any large body of fresh water anywhere nearby. During breeding season both Willets and Long-billed Curlews are often seen in that area.
A Short-eared Owl and a Willet along the same stretch of road is coincidence enough, but you there to photograph them at that very significant place. What are the chances?
A couple of off-topic observances: The rock the Willet is perching on I would love to have in my yard.
The difference in flora around the fence is striking. Weedy as heck in the first photo; more native looking sage and bunchgrass in the second. Drought related?
Someone should post a sign saying “this unbarred section of fence is reserved for Short-eared Owls”.
Definitely drought related, Lyle. Both photos were taken about the same time of year and I think the difference is quite dramatic.
Loved seeing the Willet’s very striking underwing stripes, and the richly-
colored boulder he’s poised on is a beautiful stage for him……you’ve
inspired me to carry wire-cutters in my car from now on…….
Kris, make sure you get heavy duty cutters. The first time I cut an owl (a Barn Owl) out of barbed wire I pulled tendons in my arm because the cutters I had with me were small and cheap. Barbed wire is tough to cut so now I carry better cutters.
If you plant some dill along with those potatoes, you can make a good potato salad later.
Great photos and a really good story to start the day. I’ll sit still for a good story anytime. Thanks, Ron
Thanks, Nina. Actually I don’t put dill in my spud salad. Now if there was a way to grow mayonnaise… 🙂
How to grow mayonnaise: plant some apple trees (birds will come), grow some safflower (bees will come), raise chickens (these are birds)…
In this case, store-bought is dandy.
Can see the Willet, but of course would not have noticed had you not pointed it out. Great story, and I well remember the story of the owl caught in the barbed wire. I’m guessing a lot of ranchers see the world of birds and nature differently than most of us do. When you sneaked up behind the bush to take the Willet photo did you realize where you were right away or later as your were leaving?
I don’t think you will ever get a bill for the fence, and I really like the Willet photo because I have never seen one with wings outstretched.
“did you realize where you were right away”
Everett, at first I didn’t even think about the bush being the same one where Galileo had been found because I was too focused on approaching the Willet.
I’ll be surprised if I get a fence repair bill at this late date but it could happen.
Beautiful shots of the SEOW and Willet. I also appreciate the perspective of the Willet and boulder from the repair site.
I cry every time I see that shot of Galileo hung up on those barbs and think about what could have happened to him had you and Mia not driven by at that moment and I think about all the other “Galileos” out there that don’t have their own two rescuers in a dusty pickup.
Dusty? My pickup dusty??
Ha, you’ve been peeking, Marty. Right now I could plant potatoes on my dashboard…
Nice! ALWAYS like SEO’s – glad there are still a few about. Willet is a cool photo – don’t generally see them in that particular pose. When you mentioned a bird in the photo I saw the boulder….. 😉 Comical about the fence. Probably went by when it happened and said “that will due” until I get “a round ‘tuit”. May have been “bluster” about hitting them all the time (tho I’m sure they don’t stop for them) for a perceived “tree hugger’s” benefit…….
Heat advisory for this afternoon – 95 predicted….. 😬
Judy, I don’t think it was bluster about hitting them all the time. Locals often drive much too fast on that road and I’ve seen road killed owls there, both SEOW’s and Burrowing Owls. Several years ago 3 of 4 recently fledged Red-tailed Hawk chicks from a nearby nest were killed or injured by vehicles on that road. I also once found a road killed Golden Eagle along that road.
Dang if that might not be just the best SEOW shot I have ever seen. Tack sharp and so much more than just an eye dominated shot. Yes, you have one of the striking eyes but also enough face disk, a 3/4 view of beak that highlights the size and shape, an uncommon pose, striking feather pattern of side, splayed feet. wing and tail slightly separated. What I wouldn’t give for a shot of that quality. So well done. So lucky too. Just Wow!
Thanks very much, Granny Pat. I like it too but I wish I’d been a little closer. That image is a fairly large crop.
We can hope that your actions years ago convinced someone, or maybe just planted a seed, that there is value in all the creatures whose ecosystem we inhabit. If so, then it was worth you getting chewed out by a rancher for a few minutes. I for one applaud you cutting the fence. We got way more cows than we do Short Eared Owls.
“We got way more cows than we do Short Eared Owls”
Now that brought an early morning smile.
I wish I could “lift-off” like that beautiful Willet!
Don’t we all. But it wasn’t actually lifting off. It was just using its wings to move from one part of the boulder to another.