Monthly Archives: February 2017

Barred Owl Hunting (video)

Year 4

This post could have also been titled:

  • Dumb Luck Birding
    (or)
  • Barred Owl takes me over the Top!

The title “dumb luck birding” would have been appropriate as this owl showed up around noon, and was still hunting next to my house just before sunset. While I don’t bait owls, the spillage from my feeders attracts lots of squirrels, mice and voles. Owls understand this fact. The image accompanying this post was taken from my dining room as I sipped on a glass of Chardonnay! Thus … dumb luck birding!

The title “Barred Owl takes me over the Top” would have been appropriate as with this post my blog, 365DaysOfBirds will achieve 100,000 lifetime views (a period of almost exactly three years). When I started this blog I never dreamed how popular it would become.

Thus … the Bird of the Day is a Barred Owl, which is actually the second owl to today for me. At sunrise I watched a Great Gray Owl silhouetted against the pre-dawn orange sky. However, in that instance not only was i NOT in my dining room, but I was birding in -5F degree weather!

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Here is a video from earlier this afternoon during one the owls hunts.

Frozen Photographer Failures at 5 Below

Year 4

Over the past few days the temperatures have dipped to -10F each night, but that has not stopped this photographer from practicing his craft. Unfortunately, the extreme cold temperatures are affecting my brain. Severe cold does not play nice with camera equipment. In addition, one needs to be careful when with wind added into the equation, the chill factors drop into the -20F to -25F range.

Thus, my frozen photographer failures over the past two days (and one success)

  1. While standing for over an hour on a remote forest trail to watch the John Beargrease sled dog race, I forgot to bring extra batteries. I did have extras but they were back in my car next to the trailhead. After one mushers went by, when the second and third teams approached, the dreaded “battery exhausted” message appeared on my camera display.
    .
  2. This morning I found a Great Gray Owl 30 minutes before sunrise. I had been out since 3:45 am trying to capture an Aurora Borealis photographs. My plan was to photograph the Northern Lights and then head home for some sleep. Well, the Northern Lights did not shine, and while I had my head pointed down (i.e. eyes not on the owl) to make adjustments to my night photography gear in an attempt capture an image of the owl silhouetted against the pre-dawn orange sky, the bird flew off.  I invested another hour trying to relocated said bird, but failed. It would have been a great photograph! Did I mention my birding photography gear was at home in the kitchen?!

Thankfully, I did track down the dog sled teams after a quick drive to another trailhead which resulted in these images.

 

Power to the Pileateds!

Background, Year 4

While skill is important in birding photography, lucks doesn’t also hurt! We have a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers which have taken up residence in our wooded yard next to Amity Creek. This pair has been fun to watch over the winter. Here’s to hoping they set up house in our yard. Regardless, I should be able to find their hole/nest this June.

Power to the Pileateds

On another subject, I have set up a new image search for my photographs. The database is taken from my Flickr account and includes not only my better bird images, but also my northern Minnesota landscapes and night time photographs including the Northern Lights.

Use this Flickr web link and enter your query term as indicated. You may also change the sort sequence in addition to selecting other options.