Here is a tale of a Collared Scops Owl (Otus lettia) and its chicks courtesy of avid bird watcher Peter Kline . This first image is from my collection, but read on below and make sure you do not miss the chicks featured tomorrow.....
This pic below and note from Peter to cover the following images and tomorrows pictures too...
"I don't know much about owls at all. My brief adventure with the Collared Scops owl began when a friend sent me an iPhone pic of an owl sitting in the hollow of a tree in a very remote part of Lamma Island. I showed up with my long lens, eager to get a shot of the chap and discovered a nest with three chicks. Luckily there was a reliable, discreet viewing spot at a reasonable distance from the nest. My mission: to get a shot of the adult, taking pics and video of the chicks while I waited… and waited.After a bit of research I learned Scops Owls only feed after dark, so I switched my schedule to arrive at 4.30pm and waited until dark -still no luck. Finally an online friend told me to look around the neighbouring trees for the adult as he would be there somewhere. I looked and looked and could not see him. After three days, two of the chicks had fledged and left the nest. I decided to give it one last night to film the last chick and call it a day. I had given up when the guy who’d sent me the original iPhone pic sent me a message saying the adult had shown up. I quickly returned and there he was - sitting right in front of me, so well camouflaged I had been looking past him for days. He’d been looking at me too all the time through those sleepy eyes. I’m happy I didn’t find him on the first day as I might not have gone back. Seeing and filming the young grow and fledge has been the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m now an owl addict; show me more!"
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