![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/barn-owl-5547-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"barn-owl-5547-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI’ve photographed hundreds of Barn Owls over the years but this was something I’d never seen before and haven’t seen since that I recall. I posted another photo of this bird several years ago but these two shots from my archives are new to my blog.<\/p>\n
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1\/1000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n It was an overcast early spring morning at Bear River MBR when I managed to capture quite a few photos of this owl as it was flying in my general direction while hunting. Due to the low light some were sharp and some weren’t but an even dozen of them were good enough to keep.<\/p>\n I chose to include these two photos in part because whenever I post a short flight series I like to include…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n alternating wing positions – wings up and wings down. I didn’t get a catch light in the eye in either shot but I didn’t really expect to because I had two strikes against me in that regard – the deeply set eyes of Barn Owls and the very low light.<\/p>\n But something else struck me about this bird that partially made up for having no light in the eyes.<\/p>\n There’s blood smeared on the lower portion of its otherwise pristine white facial disc and that’s something I’d never seen in this species. It happens often with many other raptors but rarely with Barn Owls and for good reason. Small mammals like voles, mice and the occasional shrew make up the vast majority of Barn Owl prey items (74-100% depending on the individual owl and the situation according to various studies) and those small mammals are swallowed whole which would produce little if any external blood.<\/p>\n However, some individual Barn Owls take songbirds now and then, especially starlings, blackbirds, meadowlarks and wrens and occasionally their heads are lopped off and discarded before the owl consumes the rest of the carcass. Obviously the beheading process would be a bloody procedure so I suspect that was what this owl had recently done.<\/p>\n I’m only speculating of course. Only the owl knows for sure and this inscrutable bird wasn’t talking.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve photographed hundreds of Barn Owls over the years but this was something I’d never seen before and haven’t seen since.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/barn-owl-5552-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"barn-owl-5552-ron-dudley\\"")
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