I’ve seen individual “shorty” chicks a few times in the past but I believe this was the one and only time I’ve photographed two recently fledged siblings together.
This photo is a bit of a change of pace for me. Usually my birds are fairly large in the frame but these youngsters were several feet apart so I used my smaller zoom lens in order to include them both in the shot. As a result each bird is small in the fame but I’ve tried to partially compensate for that by making the image larger than usual – 1100 pixels on the long side rather than my typical 900 pixels.
1/640, f/8, ISO 400, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @153mm, not baited, set up or called in
I found them in late May several years ago next to a fairly remote but paved road in northern Utah. It was a cool spring morning and they appeared to have come out of the dense grass next to the road in order to enjoy the warming rays of the rising sun with one perched on top of a dried tumbleweed and its sibling perched on a dirt mound several feet away.
I was struck by their differences in both appearance and behavior. The overall color of the bird on the right was significantly darker than its sibling, especially its face but elsewhere too. And the darker sibling spent much more time parallaxing me and my pickup than the other bird did which suggested to me that it was the younger of the two siblings.
With them both so close to the road I was very concerned about their safety so I struggled with trying to decide if I should try to force them back into the cover of the thick grass. Or not. But it was early morning, there was almost no traffic on the remote road, both birds seemed content where they were and I’m always reluctant to stress birds (especially when they’re so young) so in the end I let them be and continued down the road to look for more birds. When I returned later that morning they were gone.
I’ll admit to being extremely relieved to not find them as road kill. A local rancher once told me “We hit owls all the time on that road”. If I had found one or both birds dead on the road when I came back it would have been a very long drive home…
My timing of posting recently fledged birds in winter may seem a little strange to my readers but our dreary cold weather with even more snow in the forecast made me yearn for the color green and other signs of warmth, clean air and springtime.
Owl chicks scratch that itch.
Ron
Which one is Stan and which one is Ollie?
They told me their names were Frick and Frack but I don’t remember which is which. So I just call both of them Which…
Parallaxing and tumbleweed perching. Kids do the darnedest things. Great photo, Ron.
Thanks, Lyle.
Definitely an awwww moment to start my day. Feathered echantment at its best.
Thank you, EC.
Here we go with the ridiculously redundant thing again, but just WOW!! What a delight from all sorts of angles!
Yes, I’ve always been a big fan of that sideways/upside-down head thing (yes parallaxing). It makes me giggle. Yes, I know it’s all serious from their perspective, but it just makes me want to gather them up and hug them. No, I wouldn’t ever do that, but my humanity seeps out every now and again.
It’s always terrific to see the babies–yes, I’m a real softie there, too. And I’m delighted they moved away from the road.
And ah those itches. I’m going to scratch mine and Jack’s today despite all the mud. More rain is coming on the weekend!
I understand that hugging impulse, Laura.
I hope Jack doesn’t hide in a pack rat hole while he’s gorging himself again!
Parallaxing owls never fail to put a huge grin on my face! 😄 I can just imagine him thinking, “What the hell is that?” It also looks as if the left pupil of the darker youngster might be a bit oddly shaped; not sure if that’s reality or an artifact from embiggening the image on my iPad.
Sun’s out today after a dreary, soggy day yesterday. Gonna go pound the pavement for a couple miles and see what critters I can find. Woo Hoo! 😎
Marty, I’m not seeing significant pupil size difference but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Good luck with your critters. Ours are all cold and wet if they’re not hunkered down somewhere.
Two Coots, two male Mallards, several Black Phoebes, a few Pigeons, 5 gulls (in flight), some butterflies, some elementary school students, various and sundry high school and university students, and a squirrel with a death wish. Not a bad way to spend 40 minutes! 😋
I’d give a lot just to see those Black Phoebes, Marty. Hope the squirrel survived.
Beautiful photo, Ron – the parallaxing is always fun…….. 🙂 Interesting that the tumbleweed doesn’t bother the chick as a perch. The coloring differences are interesting – some years there will be a difference in the GHO chicks other years not so much tho, as you noted, age can influence it. Glad they didn’t end up as road kill and they DO scratch an itch.. 😉 Light snow this morning – price paid for the wind going away… 😉
Thanks, Judy. It’s actually been raining here for much of the night but it’ll likely turn to snow at some point.
Lovely picture! ❤️ Love when they do the parallaxing movement…I’ve been lucky enough to have gotten a few photos of such and treasure them. What a difference between the two chicks; something I wouldn’t expect. You never know what that tall grass may hold for you. This starts my day on a happy note!
Kathy, I used my big lens on that bird on the right while it was parallaxing for quite a few shots. Couldn’t resist…
Fun photo Ron, and that green sure looks colorful during this dreary time of the year. I don’t believe we have “Shorties” here. I just checked our local “Birds of Prescott Arizona” and they are not listed. I know I have never seen one.
You’d remember it if you had seen one, Everett. I think they’re a fairly unique owl.
What a wonderful way to start an otherwise dreary, foggy day. Thanks so much! Rick
Thank you, Rick. I feel exactly the same way.