Today was time to see if the Great Grey Owl
was still present and to give Rune his second tick in the space of two days
after he had got to grips with one of the Iceland Gulls yesterday.
On the drive down we had the possibility of
four drive-by Great Grey Shrikes but only managed a single this time. Coming to
Hvaler I spotted a hunting falcon and stopping the car as safely as we could we
got the scopes out and found a raptor swimming in the water at quite some
distance on top of prey and making its way slowly to an island. The bird must
have swum (flapping frenetically) over 10 metres with its prey before hauling
up on land. The raptor turned out to be a young female Peregrine (was hoping
for a Gyr) and the prey item appeared to be a gull which judging from size was
most likely to have been a Little Gull (in itself a pretty good record!). It
was quite a feat for the young bird to swim such a distance with a prey item
half its size in its talons!
Arriving at the owl site we noticed what
looked like recent tree felling along the route of some telegraph wires and
feared that this could have disturbed the owl. We searched the relatively small
area very diligently for an hour and a quarter without any success and assumed
that it had moved on (it has not been reported for 10 days although it only
appears that a couple of people have searched for it in the meantime). Deciding to move onto pastures new we got in the car and had driven 200metres past
where we had been searching and what was that sitting less than 20metres from
the road?
 |
| The view that greeted us after we had given up and were driving away! |
We had driven past on the way in without
seeing the bird so either we were not observant enough or maybe we
had unknowingly disturbed it during our search and it had flown to this
position. Anyway it showed amazingly well seemingly unaffected by or presence
and continuing to search the ground for prey. I took many photos and permit
myself to show some of the best here:
Jennifer here, from the U.S. east coast. While driving, I spotted a Great Grey Owl roadside one night in the winter of 2000. I assume it was a female from her sheer size - she was about 3/4 of a meter from head to end of tail. What a sight! We circled back and got to within 6 meters - then she turned to look at us, taking my breath away. When she flew off with enormous wingspan, I saw a squirrel dangling from her talons. It was truly one of the greatest wildlife visions I've experienced. I only have my memories, though, and thank you for sharing your photography.
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer, aren't they amazing birds! I can't wait to see one again soon as my memories need a top up!
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