[texbirds] Flammulated Owl from Saturday

From: "Chris Harrison" <sandboa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Texbirds" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:59:06 -0600
Texbirders,
 

Just thought I would share our experience with the Flammulated Owl on
Saturday.

 

It spent the day buried deep in the brush near the Convention Center.
Fortunately a few people had found it the previous day and knew where to
look.  If you hadn't known exactly where it was perched, you would have just
about zero chance of spotting it.   In the morning, it was facing in such a
way that the face and mostly closed eyes could be seen through a scope but
by mid-morning it had turned its head and its face was no longer visible.
You could see its breast and its back if you knew just where to look.

 

Late in the afternoon we came back to check if its position had changed and
it hadn't.  We stayed around with a few others hoping it might "hop up" to
the top of the bush before flying out.   About 30 minutes after sunset,
another gentleman and I happened to be around the "back side" of the clump
when we realized the owl had moved.  Suddenly he whispered, "It's right
there in front of us".  I looked and in the inky shadows could make out the
silhouette of the owl at face level 10 feet from us in the open.   It sat
there a second then flew to another branch just a few feet from the sidewalk
where others had now joined us for very dark, but unobstructed views of the
little owl for about 3 seconds before it flew off into the tangle on the
other side of the sidewalk.

 

I had just happened to have been playing with my camera's ISO setting a few
minutes before and had set it at 16000 ISO (yes, 16000, not 1600) so I was
able to snap a quick full body shot of the little fellow before he went off
to get his evening meal.   It isn't going to make the cover of any
magazines, but you can at least tell it is a FLOW and it shows up a lot
better than it did with the naked eye -
http://www.pbase.com/sandboa/image/148426782.jpg

 

I am also happy to report that in the few hours I was around the convention
center/birding center, I did not see a single person attempt to take a flash
picture of the owl.   There was probably a bit more loud conversation around
the clump than there probably should have been, but people seemed to
respecting the owl's space to some degree.

 

The female Western Tanager put on a very good show while people were "owl
spotting" as well.

 

Only other thing of note was a male Hooded Warbler in a flock of warblers
(Wilson's, Yellow-rumpeds, Orange-crowneds, Common Yellowthroats) that
Che'ree spotted in the wooded area just past the water feature.  I never saw
it, but she said she got a great look at it.

 

Chris Harrison

San Antonio, TX



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[texbirds] Flammulated Owl from Saturday

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