Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Short-eared Owls at Cumberland Fields

Tight crop of the short-eared owl

There will be two blogs today because in yesterday's blog I did tell you I would show you some of the landscape photos from the Snowy Owl Quest. But, first I want to tell you about yesterday afternoon at the Cumberland Fields Farm located in Middleborough and Halifax Massachusetts. Cumberland fields is an important bird area and recently there have been reports on both snowy owls and short-eared owls on the property. My grandson and I went hopefully to see and photograph the short-eared owls. The short-eared owls have been reported around the old cemetery on Wood Street, which is in Halifax. Because the short-eared owls usually appear in the late afternoon toward sunset, we arrived around 3 o'clock and set up our cameras. I was utilizing my Nikon D3s, Nikon 500 mm f/4 with a 2X converter. I also used my Nikon D 7100 and a 24 to 75 lens to take pictures of the cemetery.

Old cemetery location

The first bird that we saw was a female northern Harrier who flew right by us coming from the woods that were across the road behind us and I was only able to capture it going away. Most of the Harriers that appeared were in the far distance against the tree line, which made for a very distant shots. We finally moved up to around the cemetery which did bring the birds in a little closer but they still were actually very far away

Northern Harrier over the tree line

The short-eared owl appeared just before sunset and were flying just around in front of the tree line which still made for distant shots even though we had moved closer. The photos I obtained were just record shots. When I go back again as if that continues to the snow like it has been I may need snow shoes I will walk down to the tree line and pick a spot so that are hopefully I can photograph both the Harriers in the short-eared owls closer and larger in the frame.

Environmental photo of short-eared owl

Short-eared owl looking for prey

I finished the afternoon with the landscape shot of the cemetery, the trees in the sunset.

Old cemetery at sunset

http://www.topazlabs.com/aff/idevaffiliate.php?id=850&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftopazlabs.com%2Fsimplify

Monday, December 17, 2012

New England Owls

Eastern Screech Owl photographed at Mount Auburn Cemetery

New England has had a total of 12 different species of owls reported. Of those twelve, I have photographed six of the species and have heard one other in New England. Of the very rarest owl reported - Burrowing Owl, I photographed the burrowing owl in Florida and in California. I am hoping to observe and photograph the remaining species.

Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

Great-horned Owl photograph that Mount Auburn Cemetery

Great-horned Owl, juvenile, photographed at Great Neck Audubon Sanctuary

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Barred Owl photographed at the Boston Public Gardens

Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)

Eastern Screech Owl photographed at an owl prowl at the Stone Barn, Allens Pond Audubon Sanctuary

Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)

Snowy Owl photographed at Duxbury Beach

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)

Short-eared Owl photographed at Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge

Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula)

Northern Hawk Owl photographed at Palmyra Maine

I have only heard the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) during a bird-a-thon

For the remaining owls: Barn Owl (I have photographed a captive Barn Owl), Long-eared Owl, Boreal Owl, Great Gray Owl; I keep looking at the e- bird news for any information on these owls, so I could plan a trip to try to observe and photograph them.

By the way, here is a photograph of a Burrowing Owl, which I photographed in California and really don't expect to photograph here in New England

Burrowing Owl