Immature Bald Eagle photos by Larry Jordan

And then the raptor took flight… (click on photo for full size image)

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Burrowing Owl Head Tilt photos by Larry Jordan

I happened to be in the Sacramento area over the weekend and stopped to visit the Burrowing Owl colony at Wildhorse Golf Club in Davis, California.  I arrived before dawn and watched the sunrise in this owls eyes as she gave me the endearing Burrowing Owl head tilt. I can’t think of a better morning greeting.  It brought a great big smile to my face.

The Burrowing Owl colony at Wildhorse seems to be a very successful conservation story.  I counted over twenty owls in the short time I was there.  There were a few owls in the area of the artificial burrows, but most had taken up residence in the surrounding natural burrows dug by their symbiotic friends, the California Ground Squirrel.

There were families of four, five and six owls occupying burrows on the golf course and along the walking path that skirts the course boundary.  This family was able to enjoy a respite from almost constantly being on alert for predators like unleashed dogs.

(You’ve got to love those eye lashes!)

Then there are the avian predators to be on alert for.

Mostly other raptors but, according to Birds of North America Online, American Crows will also prey on the owls.

There are several groups working hard to bring this beautiful species back from its current decline.  One of them is the California Burrowing Owl Consortium.

The California Burrowing Owl Consortium has been fighting for this “Species of Special Concern” for nearly twenty years and we feel that the time is finally drawing near for this dwindling species to have their day.

The next California Burrowing Owl Consortium meeting will be held at Viansa Winery and Wetlands, in Sonoma, on Saturday, September 11th.  Both the science and citizen science community are most welcome.  The cost is $30, which includes a gourmet lunch.  For more information, email Tom Rusert.

Another organization on the Burrowing Owl horizon, advocating for this beautiful bird, is the Burrowing Owl Conservation Network.  I am a staff member of this organization, supported by Earth Island Institute and founded by none other than Scott Artis of Journowl.

I feel that we are getting close to turning this dreadful situation around for the California Burrowing Owl.  I leave you with this excerpt from our mission statement and a video of that cute owl doing the endearing head tilt.

“By educating communities, garnering land owner cooperation, championing progressive burrowing owl and habitat management policies and laws, increasing scientific research, and fostering appreciation we will reverse a trend that currently promotes extirpation.”

To see some great bird photography, check out Bird Photography Weekly.

Osprey Female At Nest photos by Larry Jordan

I went out to check on a local Osprey nest yesterday and took some photos of the adults and the nestlings.  It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the female was shading the nestlings as they waited for the male to return with some fish.  (Click on images for full size photos)

Observing birds as a photographer, you soon realize that birds have an abundance of patience.  Especially nesting birds.

As the temperature cooled down a bit, the female Osprey decided to take a break and left the nestlings to their own devices.  One of the youngsters felt like it had some room to try out its wings.

This is typical behavior of raptors before attempting their first flight.  I shot a short video of this nestling as it jumped into the air, wings flapping, in a pre-flight practice over the nest.  They are getting very close to their maiden flights.

The nestlings create quite a ruckus, sometimes to the dismay of their siblings.  It can be quite amusing.

The male Osprey did show up briefly when the female was gone and dropped off a sashimi tidbit.  Then he took off again to the noisy insistence of the nestlings, presumably to resume fishing.

Note that the male (above) has a clean white breast whereas the female, in the photos below, has a dark “necklace.”  You will also notice that the nestlings eyes are orange, not yet turning to the adult yellow and their feathers are tipped with buff.  You may have also noticed those fish hook talons on the adult male!

The female returned after the male resumed his fishing duties, offering some shade to the nestlings

as they, once more, waited patiently for fresh fish from the nearby Sacramento River.

For more cool sky shots, check out Skywatch Friday!

Osprey Male In Nest photos by Larry Jordan

This is the male Osprey of the pair nesting atop the bridge I reported on at the end of March when they were mating.  I wanted to follow up on the pair and their nestlings, now almost exactly two months later.

When I arrived I saw one of the adults standing on the edge of the nest as I drove under it.   By the time I had parked the car and walked out on the bridge with my camera, it had flown so I concluded that they were no longer brooding the nestlings.

According to Birds of North America Online, both parents incubate the eggs but the female does the brooding, which is continuous for the first couple of weeks, then intermittent for a couple more.

Osprey may lay from 1 to 4 eggs but most of the time three, laid at two to three day intervals.  The eggs are incubated for a month.  So if this pair laid three eggs beginning on April 1st, the nestlings would be about four weeks old.

When this male flew back into the nest and looked around, he looked down at one point and shifted position.  Like he was tending to nestlings, unseen by me.

Then he took off and I got a descent in-flight shot of him (my first in-flight digiscoped shot) although he was quite far off.

You can see in this flight shot that this is the male because he lacks the darker, more obvious necklace seen on the female in the previous post.

I observed no nestlings in the hour and a half I was there and the adult bird only visited the nest twice.  Neither visit was for feeding the young.  I was hoping they would pop their little heads up so I could see how many there were but no luck.

I will take another trip to the bridge soon.  In the meantime, check out the other great Skywatch Friday posts.

Red-tailed Hawk Nesting photos by Larry Jordan

This Red-tailed Hawk has been nesting on these high votage power lines for at least three years now.  I have watched them raise three chicks to fledge each of the last two years and they are well on their way this year.

I thought I would use this as an opportunity to see the difference in digiscoping these birds at different magnifications with my Kowa 883 Prominar spotting scope.  The photo above was shot at 20x magnification at a shutter speed of 1/640 of a second.  All the images were shot at ISO 1000, using the Nikon D90 with an AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8D lens with the shutter speed compensating for the difference in magnification.

This tower is, to my best measurement using Google Earth, about 100 yards from the road where I took the photos.  Here’s what it looks like using my Kodak Easy Share V1253 point ‘n shoot.

You can just see the nest on the right hand side of the tower on the left, at the towers narrowest point.

Obviously the lower the magnification, the better the image, so I try to digiscope most shots at 20x magnification if at all possible.  The next three images were shot at 40x magnification but I think the quality is still pretty good.  The shutter speed at this setting was 1/200 of a second at ISO 1000.  None of the images have been cropped.

You can see the chicks are still covered with down but their feathers are growing out rapidly.

You can see the little tail feathers sticking up on the chick on the left side.  Click on images to see full size.

At maximum magnification of the Kowa 88mm 20-60x zoom eyepiece, you get images like the two below.  Not quite as sharp but I think they’e pretty good being a football field away from the subject.

These were shot at ISO 1000 and a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second.

I will be posting a page with my digiscoping set up information soon.  In the meantime, get on over to Bird Photography Weekly for some great bird photos!