Saw-Whuut?... Saw Whet! In Pictures and... a Mooovie!

Today marks the first day I bring a video to the blog. I now own a
camcorder (Thank you Santa!), so I am going to try to incorporate
alittle action and make this THE wildlife site to be at! My skills
behind the lens of a video-doohickey is very green, so bear with me. I
have found that I need to get a UV filter first and foremost, because
the purple fringing is horrible. Anyway, the little snippit of a
mooovie is raw. The action is not much more than a blink and a
headturn, but I think this little guy is adorable, so I had to make it
my first cinematic adventure. It is rated G. It is an action movie
(note the shaky camerawork) with no plot or bloodshed. The thrill is in
the eye of the beholder, as is the love story. I fell in love with this
guy, and I hope you do too.
So I hope you enjoy your Christmas present...
This owl was found at Morton Arboretum. If I can assume, and I will...
I am guessing it is the same little owl I captured last year. I checked
the same tree where I found the previous one and voila! It is about 20
feet up in the air with its back to the sun, so shooting him was
difficult. ISO 200, shutter 1/25, f/5.6. Speedlight and beamer also.
Note: The video, upon looking after download is completely horrible, so I am hoping to find an alternate way to download a better quality view. Hang with me!>

A Saw-Whet is Coming...A Saw-Whet is Coming...

I have some shots of a Saw-Whet Owl that I took on Christmas Eve, but...I think I can improve on them today, so I am not posting them until tomorrow. The day was dank, the shutter was WAY open, ISO too high, etc....The little guy was very hidden, and obstructed! Today looks gorgeous, so I am giving it another shot, and hopefully have some great ones for tomorrows post! Ya'll come back now...tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

My Owl Mission Part 2-Northern Saw-Whet Owls

My second owl species of this series is the (Northern) Saw Whet Owl. I got my first one last winter, when chasing a hot tip off of the birding hotline. I always want to discover one on my own, or it seems the chase is lost, but this little creature has eluded me for years. It was discovered at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Il. It cost me $7 for admission to see it, but it was worth the effort for this tiny treasure.

Saw-Whet's are the smallest of our regions owls. Their height is 7-8" and have huge yellow eyes for their size. Their head seems to take up half of their height, and virtually has no visible neck. They are very scarce in this area, so to see one is pure luck. They can be found in small dense trees such as conifers, and their defense is none at all. They will sit still and not fly, leading people to percieve them as tame. They feed on small rodents such as deer mice, and I have read that they eat them as two separate meals. They can only handle smaller chunks, so to swallow one whole in one sitting could lead to choking and death.

It took me more than an hour to find him. My directions were extremely vague. I checked every conifer I could find in this massive area, searching each trunk for a small metal tag identifying its type . In arboretums, they tend to group "like" trees to regions, so checking each one was becoming exhausting and my extremities were not prepared for the amount of time I was spending in this type of weather. ( I wore sneekers, so my feet were soaked in the snow) I really thought I could walk right to it, since I had the species of tree it was in. (A weeping pine) I kept trekking on until I heard some voices ahead. I am hoping they are standing under the tree I seek. I see that they both have cameras, so I am pretty sure I found the spot. I say "saw-whet?" and they point up to an inner branch at the peak of the tree. I still couldn't see it. They tell me to look for the larger bowed branch near the trunk, and there it was. I took some test shots, and found the right settings. The lil guy was sleeping, so I got comfortable. I wanted the perfect shot, since I spent so much time and money, not to mention gas getting here. The other photographers left. I inspected the ground, and found plenty of whitewash and owl pellets (poop and vomit) to keep me entertained. If the guys were not there, I would love to think that I would have spotted it, since the evidence was everywhere. Anyway, I waited for quite some time, and the constant strain of looking up was taking its toll on my neck. I eventually got a shot with his eyes open (well, half open) that was half decent. I went up to the Arboretum several more times, but this shot is the best I got. I was hoping I could get a better angle, but the one you see was the "only" angle to shoot him. I am hoping to find one this year without the help of the hotline, and of course the perfect conditions for a perfect picture.

Part 3: Screech Owl