Barn Owls and Little Owls at Night (updated photos on 5/01/14)

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stevecush

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Steve
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I have been working for some time on a site very close to my home where a Little Owl is regularly seen. I wanted to see if I could encourage it onto a post for photographs. I set up two posts with containers attached to the back at the top for mealworm, and also put out mice and day old chicks. The mice were regularly being taken, and as they were mainly put out late in the afternoon and had gone in the morning, I assumed it was the owl that was taking them, and not an opportunistic magpie or crow.


I decided to set up a Trail Cam to work out was going on. The first results were that the mice were indeed disappearing, but no evidence of what was taking them. I realised that the cam responded to heat and movement and that birds were not triggering it. So I set it up on Field Scan, taking a photo every minute. I then discovered that the main visitor, and the one taking the mice was actually a Barn Owl. Over a period of weeks of monitoring both a Barn Owl and a Little Owl have been seen every night, and possibly a Tawny Owl. What is even better is that on more than one occasion the Cam has recorded a Barn Owl on each post at the same time, a Little Owl on each post at the same time, and a Barn Owl on one post and a Little Owl on the other post. So the site is regularly visited by at least 2 Barn Owls, 2 Little Owls, and possibly a Tawny Owl.


The Cam, however, disappointingly has to date shown that they are only visiting in the dark, the earliest visit being 4.40pm and the latest 7.10am.


I realised that any photographs would have to rely on flash photography. I read carefully about this topic in nocturnal birds, and came to the conclusion that this would not be in any way harmful. However, I wanted to make sure this was not disturbing these birds, and so introduced the flash slowly, gradually moving the flash guns closer to the posts. The birds have not reacted at all to the flash guns going off, and continue to regularly visit the site. I don’t have a lot of experience of flash photography but wanted to get the flash guns close to the birds. This would reduce the chance of slaty blue eye, and also allow me to use a reduced power and therefore a shorter duration of flash and increase the chances of freezing any movement.


The photos below are the results of my first attempts. It has been a great experience. Amazing to see one Barn Owl perched on top of the flash gun on a tripod while the other one was sitting on a post. Hope to continue to get more photos, including the Little Owl, hope that they will eventually appear in daylight, hope to get 2 Barn Owls together, or two Little Owls, or one of each - but think 2 Barn Owls and 2 Little Owls is being greedy.


Hope you enjoy.
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Good work Steve, observe learn and photograph the subject, very impressed , your little owls are more than likely in survival mode right now and more than likely spending time roosting in their territory and hunting as they should ,first two hours and last two hours of dawn and dusk respectively, mating courtship for the little owls around jan/feb,is a good time to get them coming in earlier...
 
There is no denying these images can give a wow factor, but not sure on the use of flash on these nocturnal birds, I know there is a lot of debate about this, I for one don t like flash in wildlife but the worry is that the owls eyes are very sensitive and the flash could cause temporary blindness for a short period of time, the Owl could be spooked if its perched and the flash goes off and then it would take flight whilst temporary blinded causing it to fly into something. This is my theory based on articles I have read and why I decide not to use flash.
 
Great set of images but totally agree with Kaz on the use of flash we must be so careful with these precious birds....regs Nige.
 
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kaz10 said:
There is no denying these images can give a wow factor, but not sure on the use of flash on these nocturnal birds, I know there is a lot of debate about this, I for one don t like flash in wildlife but the worry is that the owls eyes are very sensitive and the flash could cause temporary blindness for a short period of time, the Owl could be spooked if its perched and the flash goes off and then it would take flight whilst temporary blinded causing it to fly into something. This is my theory based on articles I have read and why I decide not to use flash.
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Totally agree. I never use flash for bird photography for the exact reasons Karen details here.
 
Flash photography on nocturnal birds is very much down to the morals principles etc of the photographer, on this occasion Steve as decided to use it ,he's not the first and wont be the last to do so, however I sit on the fence regarding flash, and I have been asked and advised on how to go about it if I wanted to go down that route, advice from a few well known wildlife photographers ,but decided at this moment in time not to go with it ,Steves images are the product of field craft ,time ,patience and seeking out local wildlife and in my opinion they are cracking images ,whether you agree with flash or not I at least respect how he's gone about getting them as for me personally I would have loved to have got those shots ,but alas due to my stand on flash on nocturnal birds at this moment in time the birds welfare is the most important thing to me.
 
No one is denying the beauty of the owl on these images and fair play for the fieldcraft, we all know how many hours is put into bird photography especially owls, I for one would not have loved to get the shots as it was done with flash, I could go down that route have had plenty of occasions but choose not to, but like I said they do attract the wow factor. It was just my opinion which is what the forum is all about its not an attack on Steve just my view on the subject. Friends of mine that are great wildlife photographers use it on different occasions and that's fine its just each to their own.
 
And my reply was my opinion on the subject of flash,i never said anyone was attacking steve i just bielive their is more substance to the shots than just using flash nothing else.
 
Den I didn t say you were saying anything about attacking Steve, I just added that so he would know that it was not a go at him personally and just my view, I am not going to get in an arguement over the matter with you, I don t know why you always get so defensive, you are entirely entitled to your opinion which I suppose you could have said in your first thread, so we will say no more else I might end up getting banned. :p
 
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kaz10 said:
Den I didn t say you were saying anything about attacking Steve, I just added that so he would know that it was not a go at him personally and just my view, I am not going to get in an arguement over the matter with you, I don t know why you always get so defensive, you are entirely entitled to your opinion which I suppose you could have said in your first thread, so we will say no more else I might end up getting banned. :p
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Well said Karen. You're right it's not worth getting banned for.

I think the pictures are great, no doubt about that at all. Fantastic!! As per Karen I don't like the use of flash. That's all.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Glad that you like the photos Michael, Wave01, Mark and Derek and I think I agree with you Joe that I prefer no 2.
Den thanks for your comments about Little Owls, and also for your advise previously about trail cams. Interestingly the Little Owls have been showing right trough the night, not just dawn and dusk.
Karen (as well as den, Nigel and Brash) - I totally respect your views about flash photography, and know that others feel the same way. I thought about it a lot, read about it, and also know a lot of wildlife photographers who use it, and have discussed it with them. I came to a different conclusion to the one you all reached - there is clearly no absolute right or wrong here. I had hoped the thread would not become a discussion about the rights and wrongs of flash photography, perhaps a little naive! There is certainly a place for such a discussion but had hoped it would be in a separate thread. Karen, I certainly did not take your comments in any way as a personal attack - it's sometimes easy for things said in brief messages to be misinterpreted - so no hard feelings from me, and Den no need to apologise for "spoiling the thread" because I don't think that has happened.
I will continue to post pictures under this heading and hopefully over time they will not just be flash photos.
 
Not posted any more photos recently, but have continued to work on this site. Regular viewings every evening, with up to three at a time. Not wanting to raise any contentious or debateable issues again but just to say that over 6 to 8 weeks they have never been disturbed by the flash guns. They even use the flash gun mounted on a tripod as a perch.

The first photo (from the trail camera) shows that they are getting into photography (note the one on the perch as well as the one taking the photo!):

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Although I have seen three, not when I have had my camera, but plenty of photos with two barn owls

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I think they are the best fed barn owls in the area!

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Superb images.
It's been months since I took my camera out (not enough hours in the day), but seeing your dedication and approach to achieving these fantastic results is really inspiring.
 
Shots are stunning, no doubt about that.

I would not use flash on nocturnal owls for the reasons Karen has already stated, but that is my choice.
 
Great shots Steve and a very interesting thread on the use of flash.
I'm also against the use of flash but Hey! one mans opinion.
What I would ask is that you continue to feed these beautiful birds over the winter months.
 
Thanks for the comments. Respect the views of Ade and Jack, and appreciate that they can understand there are other views. Don't worry, Jack - I see this as a long term project, and the owls get a 2 course meal (mealworms and chicks or mice) every night, including when I am personally away.
 
Been thinking about this, this isn`t a rant nor is there any insult intended, but I would like to ask some questions please Steve.

If you are feeding these birds every day, then there is no real need for them to hunt, if they don`t hunt, or don`t need to, how will any offspring fare?

Will you feed them as well?

Also, as barn owls are predominantly nocturnal hunters, do you feel that using flash on them at night is really the correct thing to do? I ask that as i believe that firing a flash at them in the dark will cause temporary loss of vision. What happens if they fly off in this state and hurt themselves? In your first post, the second shot, the owl is looking directly at the flash, surely that would hurt its eyes, I think it would sure hurt mine and owls have more sensitive eyes than we do, or do they, I don`t know for sure.

I just think that perhaps the subject, and its well being, is not of primary importance here, the photographs are.

Again Steve, i`m not condemning what you have done, but the above are my concerns. If anybody has any evidence that I am wrong, then I will gladly accept them and discuss the points being made.
 
fracster said:
Been thinking about this, this isn`t a rant nor is there any insult intended, but I would like to ask some questions please Steve.

If you are feeding these birds every day, then there is no real need for them to hunt, if they don`t hunt, or don`t need to, how will any offspring fare?

Will you feed them as well?

Also, as barn owls are predominantly nocturnal hunters, do you feel that using flash on them at night is really the correct thing to do? I ask that as i believe that firing a flash at them in the dark will cause temporary loss of vision. What happens if they fly off in this state and hurt themselves? In your first post, the second shot, the owl is looking directly at the flash, surely that would hurt its eyes, I think it would sure hurt mine and owls have more sensitive eyes than we do, or do they, I don`t know for sure.

I just think that perhaps the subject, and its well being, is not of primary importance here, the photographs are.

Again Steve, i`m not condemning what you have done, but the above are my concerns. If anybody has any evidence that I am wrong, then I will gladly accept them and discuss the points being made.
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Also posted to a birder list was the following statement:
"Dr. Graham Martin has been described as "the world's leading authority on nocturnal birds and one of the world's foremost vision researchers".

From Dr. Martin

I have dabbled with owls in the past, especially their vision. I have often been asked about the truth of similar statements as regards owls and other nocturnally active bird species such as shorebirds and wildfowl.

In the latter, bright lights are sometimes used in the process of "lamping" to catch birds at night. In this a powerful beam is scanned around a field until a foraging bird is spotted and then the bird held in the beam while it is approached and a net dropped over it. In these birds the bright lamp clearly disrupts their behaviour, presumably because these birds are fully dark adapted and sensitivity is dramatically lost when the bright light is shone into the eyes.

However, this may not be the situation which the photographers are arguing about. Some species of owl will actually exploit artifical light for hunting at night and it is possible for filming purposes to train an owl to hunt for prey in a pool of light at night. Thus it is not the light per se but the disruption of dark adaptation which is the essential problem. Whether flash will disrupt dark adaptation sufficiently to influence on-going behaviour will depend upon flash duration and brightness, and the state of dark adaptation of the retina.

Certainly birds do respond to flash. I have used the single flash from a flash gun to move shorebirds towards mist nets at night, the flash causes sufficient alarm to cause a foraging flock to take off and fly into the nets.

I have flash photographed captive owls and they seem to be undisturbed, but they will even stare straight into a photoflood light, which must erradicate any dark adaptation and leave them functionally blind for a couple of minutes. Therefore this is not a good indication of whether photographic lights will disrupt natural behaviours.

In view of all this, it seems reasonable always to err on the side of caution in these matters. The scotopic spectral sensitivity and rate of dark adaptation of avian retinas are very similar to those of mammals, including ourselves. Thus if our own dark adapted vision is disrupted by the flash used then it is wise to presume that the bird's dark adaptation will be equally affected. If we are temporally "blinded" by the flash then so also will be the bird for a similar length of time. For example, if you knock out a fully dark adapted retina assume it will take up to 30min for full sensitivity to be recovered.

Remember also that disruption of dark adaptation is never likely to occur in nature. Ambient light levels change through dusk and dawn at a relatively slow rate. Even at the equator, where dusk light levels change most rapidly, the rate of change is more or less in step with the rate of dark adaptation, and so under natural conditions a bird will always be well adapted to the ambient. With the exception of entry from a dark roosting site into full day light, there are few, if any, natural situations where marked light level changes are experienced and hence dark adaptation disrupted.

Obviously during day-time when the retina is light adapted a brief photoflash may not even disrupt the state of retinal adaptation.

I hope this furthers the debate.

_________________________________________________
Graham R. Martin BSc, PhD, DSc.
(Reader in Avian Sensory Science)
(Head of School)
Address:
School of Continuing Studies
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT, UK."
 
Don t like the sound of just dabbling with owls as Dr Martin puts it , if its just to get images I am sorry but its not right just in case their is a chance it can cause harm to them no one can be totally sure that it causes no harm so its best not to do it at all.
 
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kaz10 said:
Don t like the sound of just dabbling with owls as Dr Martin puts it , if its just to get images I am sorry but its not right just in case their is a chance it can cause harm to them no one can be totally sure that it causes no harm so its best not to do it at all.
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Oh come on Kaz surely not you going down this route as well? And I quote "Dr. Graham Martin has been described as "the world's leading authority on nocturnal birds and one of the world's foremost vision researchers". His details are at the bottom of the page, contact him and see what he say`s. I would hardly think he is just toying around would you? And as he points out, despite all that it would be best to err on the side of caution in these matters.The full article HERE I am also in the camp of why use flash Kaz and I only put this article up as Fracs mentioned he was not sure what effect it had on the birds vision.
 
No one said he was toying around Rich he just said dabbling, a strange word to use, and I have read loads of info about barn owls and I am not saying he doesn t know what he is talking about after all he is a leading expert, its just my opinion on the subject which I am entitled to after all.
 
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I think the last bit is probably the most telling for me:

"In view of all this, it seems reasonable always to err on the side of caution in these matters. The scotopic spectral sensitivity and rate of dark adaptation of avian retinas are very similar to those of mammals, including ourselves. Thus if our own dark adapted vision is disrupted by the flash used then it is wise to presume that the bird's dark adaptation will be equally affected. If we are temporally "blinded" by the flash then so also will be the bird for a similar length of time. For example, if you knock out a fully dark adapted retina assume it will take up to 30min for full sensitivity to be recovered.

Remember also that disruption of dark adaptation is never likely to occur in nature. Ambient light levels change through dusk and dawn at a relatively slow rate. Even at the equator, where dusk light levels change most rapidly, the rate of change is more or less in step with the rate of dark adaptation, and so under natural conditions a bird will always be well adapted to the ambient. With the exception of entry from a dark roosting site into full day light, there are few, if any, natural situations where marked light level changes are experienced and hence dark adaptation disrupted."

Karen,Rich, I assume you agree with this?
 
fracster said:
I think the last bit is probably the most telling for me:

"In view of all this, it seems reasonable always to err on the side of caution in these matters. The scotopic spectral sensitivity and rate of dark adaptation of avian retinas are very similar to those of mammals, including ourselves. Thus if our own dark adapted vision is disrupted by the flash used then it is wise to presume that the bird's dark adaptation will be equally affected. If we are temporally "blinded" by the flash then so also will be the bird for a similar length of time. For example, if you knock out a fully dark adapted retina assume it will take up to 30min for full sensitivity to be recovered.

Remember also that disruption of dark adaptation is never likely to occur in nature. Ambient light levels change through dusk and dawn at a relatively slow rate. Even at the equator, where dusk light levels change most rapidly, the rate of change is more or less in step with the rate of dark adaptation, and so under natural conditions a bird will always be well adapted to the ambient. With the exception of entry from a dark roosting site into full day light, there are few, if any, natural situations where marked light level changes are experienced and hence dark adaptation disrupted."

Karen,Rich, I assume you agree with this?
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I do indeed Ade, but as mentioned Steves pictures are very good. It would just not be my method of going about capturing a shot.
 
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