The owl was chasing something that ran along in the undergrowth.
I don't know if it's the same owl that I got before at a different place on the property.
It is a Spotted Eagle-Owl (Bubo africanus), and owls are not known for their daylight hunting. But maybe this owl thinks it's an eagle because of its name :) A second time for me to get him, as I said above, and I can just not get used to seeing owls hunting during the day, as normally we only see them at night. I don't know if it's a difference between the owl species, as the other species hunt at night.
The spotted eagle-owl (Bubo africanus), also known as the African spotted eagle-owl and the African eagle-owl, is a medium-sized species of owl, one of the smallest of the eagle owls. Its length is 45 cm (18 in) and its weight is from 454 to 907 grams (1.0 to 2.0 lb). It has a 100 to 140 cm (39 to 55 in) wingspan. The facial disk is off-white to pale ochre and the eyes are yellow. It has prominent ear-tufts, and the upper body is dusky brown, the lower parts off-white with brown bars. Prior to 1999 the spotted eagle-owl was considered conspecific with the greyish eagle-owl, but now it is classed as a separate species.
I was at a distance, and at first, I gave it a quick glance only, as I thought that it was a cat.
But then I climbed on to the zoom, and I saw that it was indeed Mr Owl.
He popped up from that table into a tree, and I had to take the far way round to the back of the tree in order to creep up on him.
Yip! He knew where I was, but I did not move and only waited to see what he would do.
Those bright yellow eyes started searching the treetops for little birds.
The owl moved to a different spot, and again he was watching my approach.
Finally, that's where I left him as I did not want him to feel threatened.
What a catch! Just goes to show that when a person is in the right time at the right place, things like this can happen. We see those trees almost every day, as it is on the premises of an entity where Papillon partners with one of the charities. A great thing about the place, is that they have a good coffee shop that also sees us on most days. There are many trees on the property, and on one very big and high fir tree I often get the peregrine falcons.
So, don't blame us for visiting the place, because it is alive with wildlife. I made another discovery there, as I picked up a sharp and long porcupine quill, and that means that there are porcupines wondering around at night. So, I will have to go and investigate, as they are also great camera models. Porcupines have very sharp quills that they raise when they feel threatened, and it would be very painful to try and catch one of them. But I digress, as the focus of this post is the owl.
Such is life.
I hope that you liked the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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