It’s often a fool’s errand to assign motivation to unexplained bird behaviors so in this case I won’t make any claims. But I have to wonder if this young owl might have been experimenting with its eyesight.
Verifying the actual function(s) of some biological structures has proven to be elusive.
I don’t often give pet names to my avian subjects but this adult Burrowing Owl seemed a natural fit for doing exactly that.
I seldom get an image of a bird in flight that doesn’t need cropping for the best possible composition.
Many of us despise the disastrous effects of barbed wire fences on birds and other wildlife and I share that view. But maybe it’s a more nuanced issue than some of us believe. Could it be that barbed wire fences have a more positive overall effect on some species than negative?
I believe this first image may be only time I’ve ever managed a decent shot of an owl of any species during the landing process.
Three days ago I stopped and talked to friend Jerry Ellison along the refuge road at Farmington and he informed me he’d photographed a cooperative Barn Owl at dawn.
I almost didn’t go shooting yesterday because birds have been slow but one of my mantras is “you never know unless you go”, so go I went. I’m very glad I did.
I realize that Great Horned Owls have the most extensive range of any American Owl but this one still surprised me a little.
