As my last few blogs explain, I have become a little fixated on Owls. Especially on photographing the SOB's! For more than two months, I have pursued BArn Owls several times a week. A family I have seen now 20 + times and not a single usable picture. Add to that 8 sightings of Great Horned Owls and singular Screech and Short Eared Owl encounters, I should have quite a collection of wild Owl photos ( I have great photos of three rehab Owls). Since the pictures of the Short Eared Owl really are good at all, I have none. Just last night all I got for my efforts were 1 blurry owl photo, half dozen blurry bat photos and a handful of ticks that wanted make a meal out of me.
The combination of heat, smoke, constant bug bites, hectic schedule, and building frustration with my gear has led me to conclude a little time off the trail is a good idea.I could not start that break today as I had I promised the kids we would go to the Sac Valley NWR after work today. I made the rule that we were only doing the car tour and no hiking. We got there at 7:45, perfect for mammals and Owls.We saw Black Tailed Mule Deer ( including a big buck), Black Tailed Jackrabbit, Red Tailed Hawk, great blue Heron. Great Egret, Killdeer, Pheasant, Western Kingbirds, Waterfowl, NUttall's Woodpecker, Black phoebe, Tree Swallows, RWBB, Common Yellow Throat, Savannah Sparrow, and House Finches. We were making the turn for the last part of the tour when my daughter spotted and Owl in a Tree. Our camera does not work well in bad lighting and so while the pictures are not great they are great to me, Madison took the sharpest one of the batch. We saw a BArn Owl flying low over the ground and then disappear into the grasslands. I messed up the shot though. As we headed for home we kept on seeing animals. 5 Raccoons, a Striped Skunk, Possum, and a very odd sight, A crawfish scooting across the road. The kids were asleep and I drove down the road by the Sacramento River. As I rounded a curve, I saw two ghostly figures rise up from the ground into the tree right in front of me. I stopped my truck and there in branch about 10 feet from me were two of our Barn Owl family. I grabbed the camera and snap pictures like mad. They looked ghostly in the smoky night sky as there faces would light up for a second in the glare of the flash. They flew off after about 5 minutes. I drove home fully convinced they pictures did not come out because of the difficulties we have shooting night life. As I looked, I saw small images in the pitch black. I cropped to the max and there they were. Finally, the damn Barn Owls on film, so to speak. They are not award winning photographs but the kids and jumped and shouted when we saw them. They will be posted with pride here and Flickr, GREAT PRIDE!!!!
We are going to Lassen next month so until then I am playing at home, working, learning my latin names, and cleaning up my field logs. I will post some pictures and then I will see you all in a few weeks!!!!
