Short-eared Owls Defending Their Nest Against Predators

Recent reports from others indicate that bird activity on Antelope Island is slowing down now and our experience out there recently would agree with that assessment so yesterday when Mia and I were trying to decide where to go shooting birds we were a little hesitant about another trip to the island.  But even with things slowing down we almost never fail to find something interesting to photograph and yesterday was certainly no exception!

 

Canon 7D, 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV 0, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Soon after arriving on the island we noticed a pair of Short-eared Owls, obviously mated based on their behavior.

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV 0, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This owl was carrying a vole and we immediately suspected that the pair had a nest in the vicinity, which turned out to be true.  It was quite a distance from the road and buried in vegetation but we could tell its location by watching this owl deliver food to the nest site – either to the mate or to both the mate and chicks.  We watched and photographed the birds for a while but when things slowed down we went further down the island.

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

On our return to the area of the nest we immediately saw a quickly developing drama.  A young coyote had apparently just crossed the road and was approaching the nest area and the owls were in a frenzy trying to drive the coyote off by diving on it and making quite a ruckus.  The unusually wet spring has resulted in taller than usual vegetation on the island and the coyote quickly disappeared  in all the deep grass and shrubbery but we could tell where it was simply by watching where the owls were diving on it.  It continued to approach the nest and the owls became frantic in their defense of it.

Here the male begins one of its dives on the coyote.

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Both birds dived repeatedly on the coyote for the roughly 15 minutes it was in the area but we almost never actually saw the coyote after it left the area of the road and continued up the hill toward the nest.   In this photo the coyote must have been within only a few feet of the nest.  The action was so fast and furious that I made a conscious effort to fire off shots as one of the owls was at the bottom of a dive, hoping I’d get lucky and get both the owl sharp (difficult to do with the background so close to the bird) and the coyote visible.  I got three shots where I could see both an owl and the coyote – this was the best of the three.

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

After spending quite a while in the area of the nest the coyote eventually wandered toward the crest of the hill where the vegetation wasn’t so tall so we could actually see it.  By this time, since the coyote had left the general vicinity of the nest, one of the owls perched on this rock to watch the predator as it wandered over the hill. 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

As the coyote ambled over the top of the hill one of the owls got in one last lick.

If there were chicks in the nest I have no idea whether or not they survived the encounter.  The coyote was certainly buried in the deep vegetation around the nest long enough to have eaten them.  I’m betting that the coyote didn’t find them though because the parents seemed to settle down a bit as soon as the predator was gone.   But not for long… 

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV + .33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Almost immediately two Common Ravens came on the scene.  Bad timing for the ravens because these owls were already pissed off from their encounter with the coyote and they weren’t about to cut the ravens any slack.   Here an owl with an attitude approaches the raven from the classic fighter jet position of attack – below and behind the target. 

 

 

 Canon 7D, 1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV + .33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

At the last second the raven turns to defend itself.  I like how the owls eye is playing peekaboo with the viewer between the claws of the raven. 

 

 

 Canon 7D, 1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV + .33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Naturally, in the only shot I got of the actual contact I cut off the right wing of the raven…

Both ravens beat a hasty retreat after this encounter.  

 

 

Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/8, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

They say turnabout is fair play and this one made me laugh.  Right in the middle of the dogfight with the ravens this Barn Swallow took exception to the presence of the owl and presented a little territorial defense of its own.  I wish I’d had enough depth of field to get the swallow sharp but it was an unexpected event and I was already at f/8, ISO 640 so there probably wasn’t much I could have done about it.  Still glad to get the shot.

As Mia and I constantly say to each other on these trips to the island – “We just never know what interesting things we’ll see out here, huh?”. 

Ron