Wildlife

Part 19

The Barred Owl

These pictures were taken September 1, 2010 at 10:30 AM.  I was walking outside my house, with my camera, and noticed something on a branch just above my head.  I was almost directly underneath this bird, only a few feet away.  Before I could get my camera turned on, it flew to a nearby tree.  I used my telephoto lens to get some pictures.  I took nearly a hundred pictures, but only twenty were usable and some of them were slightly blurred.  My camera does not have stabilization and I do not have a tripod.  I did what I could to get some pictures.

This is a strange bird, almost eerie.    With a little anthropomorphism, the face has a human look, and a very sad look to say the least.  I felt sadness as I watched the bird look for food.  I knew that the look in the eyes was not sadness, but simple hunger, as it looked for mice and chipmunks.  The last picture was taken from a different place.