White-tailed Jackrabbit, Northern Pygmy Owl (20150109) A local celebrity gets a visit.

I have been pretty quiet of late so I thought I would add a short post here. The other night there were three White-tailed Jackrabbits out in front of the house. It was well into evening so I had to bump the ISO up to 5000 and shoot at F2.8 to even get an image.

Overall I am pretty happy with the result. The rest of this post will feature another "local celebrity". For almot 2 weeks now This gorgeous bird has been entertaining the papparazi here in Calgary.

If you are a follower of the blog you will know that these are the smallest of Alberta's owls. The Northern Pygmy Owl has become one of my favourite of all the owls.

Due to the size of their eyes they cannot move them, so they must move their heads. This is probably the best conditions that I have encountered one of the little predators in, so I took advantage and grabbed a lot of shots.

The reports have been that this little bird has been quite successful as a provider. The blood evident on its beak in this shot attests to that.

Another great feature of these birds are their "fake" eyes on the backs of their heads.

In the fifteen minutes I (along with quite a gaggle of others) this bird was very cooperative. I failed one strike attempt at a meadow vole then started to put more distance between itself and the mob.

It was a privilege to spend some time with the beauty this afternoon. Hopefully the images provde a good opportunity to see what they look like. They are a bird barely larger than my fist.

Well there is a brief update for this week. Enjoy, and put a little wild in your life this week. You will feel better for it.
Turbo