Local Screech Owl

Our neighbor called one evening and said he had owls in his barn.  He said he thought they were barn owls.  Just as we arrived a Barn Owl flew from the barn and flew across the field to the woods.  We thought we had missed the opportunity but went in the barn for a look.  There sat a little screech owl!  he posed for us and then continued his nap :)

Until Next time

Jim Borden

Boreal Owl and Gray Partridge

Boreal Owl

I traveled back to Ontario Canada for the third time in a month in search of owls and other birds of the North.  Thanks to contacts in Ottawa (Wilson Hum and Bruce Di Labio ) I was able to add the Boreal Owl to my life list.  The cute little bird was nestled in a cluster of spruce trees.  I had to crawl back into the center of the cluster to get a clear shot of the owl.  It was not at all disturbed by our presence.  As there is still much controversy about flash photography and owls, I prefer not to use any form of fill flash on them.  Therefore, the low light capability of the Nikon D4 body came in real handy.  I shot from tripod with Nikon D4 and Nikon 300 f4 lens at f7.1 with a shutter speed of 1/320 and ISO 4000.  Even using f7.1, the depth of field at this subject distance did not allow for the full depth of field of the owl (notice out of focus feathers at back of head).   I watched as others attempted to shoot handheld with cameras incapable of clean images at this lighting due to elevated ISO.  My point is that the camera does not do the shooting and we have to do the framing, composition and get exposure right and teh higher technology camera bodies add a tool to our toolbox to allow us to get images we would not otherwise get. 

The owl opened its eyes slightly and looked as a lady fumbled in the 18 to 20 inches of snow to get to see the owl.  We retreated from the area to let the owl alone. 

Gray Partridge

I toured the area in search of other owls and birds. I was out looking for snowy owls when I came upon four Gray Partridge running around on top of the snow.  I saw two more Great Gray Owls near dark and the setting was terrible for getting good images-so I sat and enjoyed their presence.  I look forward to returning to the north country next winter. 

Until next time

Jim Borden

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More Life List Birds

Northern Hawk Owl

On February 22 I returned to Ontario Canada with long time friend and awesome birder Joe Demarco. we met friends Chris White and Bob Adamowicz in Ottawa to enjoy our outdoor experience together.   We were initially looking for Northern Hawk Owl, Great Gray Owl, Saw Whet Owl and Boreal Owl to add to Joe's life list.  The first afternoon we were successful at finding a Northern Hawk Owl near a location where Joan and I had seen one three weeks before.  We watched teh owl for about an hour and then moved on to potential snowy owl areas and found none of them.  As the afternoon drew to a close we traveled to where Joan and I had seen 4 Great Gray Owls.  Joan was able to spot one and we watched it until almost dark sitting on a perch occluded by branches.

We returned to teh spot prior to daylight and found the owl perched in a much more viewable position. The liught snow falling made for an awesome image.

Great Gray Owl

We had heard about Bohemian Waxwings, gray partridge, Barrow's Golden Eye , Pine Warblers and Black Back Woodpeckers being in the area so off we went in search of these birds.  We found teh Bohemian Waxwings perched in a tree in a downtown residential section of Ottawa.  beautiful bird and they provided us with no photo opportunities.  From there we traveled a short distance to a marshy area and sighted another great Gray Owl-what a beautiful and majestic bird!  We stopped at a parking area and hiked back along a trail that was overhung by trees loaded with snow-a really pretty walk.  Chickadees were bombarding us as it turns out this is a favorite place for families to take their children to hand feed teh Black Capped Chickadees.  It was truly wonderful to watch. 

We left the trail for a short distance in a burned out area and soon we had spotted the female Black Back Woodpecker hammering away on a tall tree. It was interesting to watch the bird hammer away at the tree and strip chunks of bark from the tree.  We also spotted hairy Woodpeckers in the same area.

Female Black Back Woodpecker

We spent the remainder of the afternoon looking for Snowy Owls. We finally located one sitting on top of an upturned stump in a farmer's field south of Kanata.  It was a male and was quite far off and did not provide any suitable photo opportunities. 

An acquaintance in Ottawa alerted us to a spotting of a Boreal Owl. My cell phone was acting up so we did not get the messages until after dark on Saturday evening.  So on Sunday morning we headed off to the spot of the Boreal owl.  We found where it had been perched in a Cedar Tree the previous day-there were pellets and owl poop down the tree trunk.  A search of the area yielded another 6 or 8 trees where teh owl had previously perched. We toured the farm areas looking for more Snowy Owls but only saw crows, ravens, Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. We headed home about noon. We stopped in a place near Syracuse NY where I know a Saw Whet Owl has been seen.  We found once again fresh perch areas but did not see the owl. 

It was a fun and enjoyable trip! 

Red Squirrel along Lime Kiln Trail

Until Next Time

Jim Borden

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Great Gray Owls

Full Frame 600MM image at about 50 feet

Joan and I traveled to Ontario Canada last weekend to view and photograph Great Gray Owls.  This is an irruption year for this species and there are quite a few of the owls in Ontario.  Irruptions are about 4 to 7 years apart and this is teh largest irruption in a long time.  We saw 4 of the Great Gray Owls where we were visiting.  We also got to see a Northern Hawk Owl.  We were fortunate enough to see the owls feeding one day. 

Great Gray coming along ground searching for food

Great Gray Owl getting ready to attack a mouse

Great Gray Owl with Breakfast

Great Gray Owl resting on stub at end of day

Coming in for Landing

until next time

Jim Borden

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Raptors December 29 2012

Joan and I spent a wonderful weekend with friends Gary and Kim Amatrudo along the Delaware River. The eagle pair at Zane Grey were cooperative for photographing and the snow on Saturday 12/29 made for nice scenery viewing.  The storm also caused many of teh local eagles to congregate along the Rio Reservoir in feed stream.  We saw 14 eagles there on Saturday. I photographed 4 eagles in one tree and then a little later they decided to fly and it turned out there were six in the tree. 

On our way back to Zane Grey from Rio Joan spotted a Barred Owl perched in a tree close to the road.  It made for a nice image with the falling snow. 

Until Next time

Jim Borden

Eastern Screech Owl

Joan and I traveled to an area near Syracuse New York to see a Saw Whet Owl.  Sadly, the owl did not cooperate.  On the way home we stopped at a spot where Screech owls have been seen. We saw one and we heard at least three others. 

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Until next time

Jim

Raptor Time

Winter is Raptor time for Joan and I.  We enjoy viewing the raptors that have migrated south for the winter months.  We took a short trip to two of our favorite places yesterday to see how things were shaping up for this winter.  At Liberty Loop Trail at the north end of the Wallkill Wildlife preserve, we saw migrating Mallards, migrating Northern Shovelers, a Kestrel,  two Northern Harriers and a Red Tail Hawk.  

Kestrel

Red Tail Hawk in Flight

Smooth and Graceful Landing for young Red Tail Hawk

Red Tail Hawk on Mouse Patrol

After spending some time at the Marsh, we stopped by one of our favorite winter haunts for Bald Eagles.  We only saw the resident pair there, but they gave us quite a show.  I had left my 600mm lens on so I missed part of the best action right close to me.

V85-the male Bald Eagle of teh Lackawaxen Pair

Surveying the situation as the moon rose and the sunset

Until next time

Jim Borden

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