Three days ago I posted a single photo of fighting Short-eared Owls as a ‘teaser’ because, due to post-surgical discomfort, I couldn’t sit at my computer for long enough to process all of the fighting photos I intended to. Today I finish telling the story.
Eleven days ago I spent much of my morning attempting to photograph two adult Short-eared Owls hunting from fence posts that were always backlit or sidelit. The two owls were nearly always about a quarter mile away from each other but I usually knew roughly where each of them was. They only directly interacted with each other for approximately one minute but that interaction consisted of a series of back-to-back aerial encounters (attacks) in what I believe was agonistic behavior by two males in defense of hunting/breeding territory.
You can imagine the difficulty of trying to photograph an extended aerial dogfight from inside my pickup so I missed a lot of interesting photos, in spite of doing some highly creative driving on the remote and completely deserted road. But I think I got enough of them in sequence to give readers a pretty good sense of what I experienced. Even in flight they were nearly always on the “wrong” side of the road so they were still backlit or sidelit and often flying away from me but I think the photos still document the behavior reasonably well.
These first three photos document a single, brief encounter as the owl at bottom is approaching the other owl from behind.
The aggressor’s talons are now being brought forward in preparation for…
what I believe was a quick “tag” on the lower back of the second owl.
The victim got the ‘point’ and quickly accelerated upward to escape his attacker. After this photo was taken the two owls separated in preparation for their next encounter.
They were now far enough apart that I could only keep one of them in frame, in this case the lower one, who is now quickly rising up to the other bird for another attack.
Two shots later I could get both of them mostly in frame.
At this point I don’t think one of the owls was more aggressive than the other – they both seemed eager to join in the fray.
As they got closer to each other…
the owl on the left, and probably both owls, aggressively brought their talons forward again. The owl on the right is beginning to…
turn almost completely upside down. This is the photo I posted three days ago.
This time I don’t believe they actually made contact.
But the owl at bottom…
must have figured that with his lower position in the air he was more vulnerable so…
he apparently decided that discretion is the better part of valor and made his getaway, straight down and at speed.
In approximately one minute I’d estimate that these owls had seven or eight direct encounters similar to these two but shooting through my pickup window I was only able to photograph three of them, one of them not very well. When the dogfight was over both owls returned to hunting from fence posts, once again about a quarter mile away from each other.
I’m not sure what they accomplished, other than to reinforce to each other that they were both willing to defend their apparently adjoining territories. And to give this bird photographer a very exciting sixty seconds or so.
Ron
Holy cow — or should I say, “Holy OWL!”? That is some aerial maneuvering! Thank you for sharing the whole thing and I’m glad no one — including you, I hope — was injured in the process.
Wow, just wow!
Thanks, Kris.
How incredible. And mesmerising. My heart would have been racing and I suspect my trigger finger idle as I watched.
I do hope that you didn’t give your back too much grief to bring us this incredible series.
Thank you.
Thanks, EC. And don’t worry, when I think I’ve been sitting for too long I just take another nap… 🙂 Seriously, as many as three per day, but usually ‘only’ two.
It look like an interesting encounter. Thanks for your wonderful photos. They are so vivid; and it’s like I’m watching the whole story unfold in front of my eyes.
Thanks, Earsom. Interesting is an understatement.
Just – WOW!!!
Just – thanks!
night herons – book says males have 3, female 2 ….
I don’t think that’s accurate, based on what Cornell has to say. And on what I’ve seen in the field.
Oh my, Ron! How exciting! Do your Shorties vocalize at all during these exchanges? I occasionally hear them “bark” at one another when they’re hunting at dusk on a winter evening. Love them!
No, they don’t Diane. At least not this time. And not on one other occasion when I photographed fighting SEOW’s either.
What came to my mind was the skies over London during WW Two
the Messerschmitt vs. Spit Fire.
Take Care,
Kaye
Interesting analogy, Kaye.
I’ve been looking forward to the main event. It did not disappoint. An epic dog fight. Glad no one had to call mayday.
“Glad no one had to call mayday”
Me too, Lyle. This was very, very close to where I had to cut Galileo out of barbed wire so I sure didn’t want another emergency, of any sort.
Shot #11 is as dynamic and as well-composed, graphically, as I can even
imagine to be possible– especially in the midst of such FIERCE action !
You did so well to follow — if it’d been me, I’d have dropped the camera
in the excitement…… a great series !
Kris, I like that shot well enough that it would have been my choice as my featured photo on Facebook. But FB always butchers photos with a vertical composition so I had to choose another one.
Would have loved to seen this in action. Nice capture of the event, in spite of the suboptimal lighting.
Thanks, Michael.
Excellent, absolutely awesome!
Thank you, Connie.
Excellent photography Ron. Looks like our P51 Mustangs going up against one of the German Messerschmitts during WW2. You probably could have done even better if you excited the truck and moved around with them, but then you could have seriously messed up the back pre-surgery.
Everett, I can’t shoot that huge lens handheld very well even when I’m healthy. I’m pretty sure my decision to stay inside my pickup was the best one.
Outstanding series!
Thanks, Cindy.
Great captures of an exciting incident! Glad you’re feeling a bit better.
Thanks, Burrdoo. Me too.
Glad to hear you are up to things again. And this was a really enjoyable sequence I’m glad you could finally share.
Granny Pat, it’s been a slog but I’m finally getting there.
WOW! What an amazing encounter! 🙂 Like Alison I’d have liked to “been there”……….. Their bodies are SO different from Eagles/Hawks and yet they can maneuver in the same way for aerial combat!
Nighthawks are back – one of my favorite birds to watch hunting over the creek! 🙂
Judy, the first nighthawks I ever saw, or at least recognized, were buzzing around at the mouth of a canyon on one of my Montana camping trips. They always make me think of my home state.
Balletic
Aggressively so.
Fascinating! I wish I could’ve been there watching with you…
Alison, if you had been I’ll bet your heart would have been racing just like mine was..