ML521943391

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Wild location! A small, stout owl probably the size of a robin. White below with broad brown streaks. Yellow bill. Back brown with white splotches. At alert posture held tail cocked upwards. I was alerted to its presence by the MOB of songbirds attracted to one spot in a redwood. This included several warbler species, house finch, goldfinch, cal towhee, bluebirds and Allen’s hummingbirds. I finally located the owl perched near the trunk with a freshly killed bird. Not until most birds left at 6:55 did the owl attempt to pluck and eat it’s kill. Interestingly the acorn woodpeckers which where absent from the initial mob decided to mob the owl once all other birds stopped. Eventually the owl retreated to another tree where it continued to get attention from acorn woodpeckers until after sunset. In flight it appeared large headed and short winged and flew with rapid wing beats carrying its dinner. Owl in almost exact center of photo, with its back to us.

Technical information

Model

DMC-FZ28

ISO

400

Focal length

86.4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/30 sec

Dimensions

3648 pixels x 2736 pixels

Original file size

2.47 MB