Little owl (May)

Hi Den
A really good set of images and it is good to see your perseverance is paying off it shows what you can achieve if you put the effort in.
Regards
Richard
 
den said:
Hi Paul thanks for the comment ,i have found and still finding that its all down to time patience and a lot of slogging around ,from October to the end of April you dont get many oprtunities to photograph them,watching and observing is the key,you get to know them ,everything about them,something that as taken me years and i am still learning you need to get more out of it than just photographing them ,their is more to it than just throwing mealworms out,one of the key factors in my opinion is finding a Male bird in its territory although little owls are well known to mate for life they dont always share the same territory ,once you find the Male its just a case of spending as much time with them as possible,yes they can be seen during the day ,but just seeing them on a ledge 50 foot up may not be enough for you,it was for me for years but things changed a couple of years ago,with the help of a couple of people ,one was a member on here and another guy drove me on to try and get them close ,i was able to walk up to one of them to within 15 feet with my 400mm 5.6 but i was always pointing up at him,however like i said with some help and advice i persevered to try and just get him on a post ,that i eventually achieved and i was happy with that , and now i can get him to land on whatever i want ,their are tons of shots i would like to get but alas i just dont have all the top lenses ,i have to work with a 400mm 5.6 and a 300mm f4 ,but i am happy with what i am getting,its a big commitment and to answer your last question ,did you have any long waits ,yes very long,much easier in breeding season but as said my commitment is all year roundhttp://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/new-little-owl-thread-with-a-bit-of-info.500682/#post-5753367
Click to expand...
Thanks for taking the time to type all of that! I'm fairly familar with their territory. They lose me over winter (or days with crap weather) but at the moment I'm able to observe them coming and going from their choice of nest holes. When I was down last weekend, the male was hanging around while the female made a couple of very brief exits from the nest, so I assume she's on eggs. Getting close isn't an issue, they're completely tolerant of me shuffling my popup hide in to location.

If anyone else is keen to learn more about Little Owls, I can recommend the monograph by van Nieuwenhuyse et al. (ISBN-13: 9780521714204). It gives an excellent overview of their behaviour.
 
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Amazing stuff. I would have been delighted with just one of these.
 
Youve got some great stuff in this thread Den. But then you put in the time and effort and the results are well deserved.
Gaz
 
A change in direction tonight, for the last 7 days I have been manoeuvring possible landing perches for possible flight shots, not easy in a quarry as their are rocks all over the place and embedded in the ground ,also its different sat in a small pop up hide trying to watch were the bird is and getting flight shots sat down,a bit of practice and better light will also help.Little owl 27th May 2014 by den9112, on Flickr
 
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A wonderful set. Of all birds the owl family have a way of looking into the lens that is so captivating. For me they make you feel you're intruding into their world.
 
Beautiful images Den, love seeing the story and the later evening shots with orange backgrounds :)
 
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