Owling and ED glass (1 Viewer)

I have seen small owls sitting in the oak tree at night perhaps 15 yards away.
They are small, about the size of a crow.

Quite easy to see in a medium size binocular in light pollution.
I don't know what type of owl.

I used to see numerous bats flying around also but not lately.

Binastro said:

I have seen small owls sitting in the oak tree at night perhaps 15 yards away.
They are small, about the size of a crow.

Quite easy to see in a medium size binocular in light pollution.
I don't know what type of owl.

I used to see numerous bats flying around also but not lately.

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At certain times of the year I see a heap of flying foxes heading due south as they pass over in the late evening on their way from their daily roosts.
Often at night I see tawny frogmouths getting about or perched in wait. Many times you won't even know they're there sometimes noticing them within arm's reach. While not exactly an owl they are owl like and active at night and also a very cool looking bird. I've even patted them as a child and these are wild birds.
All this owling talk has got me keen to suss out some owls and catch them in their under pants or in the case of Tyto longimembris it's bare bum Well scantily clad in that area at least anyway.

I’ve got a disused, gently sloping field, sort of swampy and reedy at its lower margin, put under conservation easement from farming use about 20 years ago, surrounded by some of the best forest in the township, with abundant large trees, fence posts, telephone poles, you name it—basically an owl would have to be out of its mind not to want to hunt there. At sunset every detail of every prominent point around the field is silhouetted against the glowing sky, seen from the swampy bottom of the field, like a Balinese puppet show. I’m not an owl, and even I can hear creatures stirring about surreptitiously in the reeds, and I once saw a mangled mouse on the path nearby. So I’m hopeful! I was delighted by how well calling the Screech Owls worked. I’ve been going around censusing likely nesting sites for Great Horned Owls, and other raptors, and trying to find a roost. No signs of whitewash yet, but it’s surely just a matter of time. In another decade, at most, I should see my Great Horned Owl in flight!

I love those names, flying foxes and tawny frogmouths! They sound wilder and more exotic than most North American names. I see bats pretty much exactly at sunset, flying over the forest near my owling field to the airspace above a nearby pond, which they seem to prefer. It was stunning when I clapped my binoculars on them the first time and realized they weren’t swallows, or any other small bird. The kingdom of night has many charms. I think, but am not positive, that I saw a nighthawk the other evening, too. They were so ubiquitous in my childhood that it’s strange they’ve grown so rare. I hope to get a better sighting soon.

Peter Audrain said:

I was like, Hold on, is that really a thing (IR viewing)? And I guess it is! Currently browsing around to see if anything’s improved, or cheapened, since this blogger’s last posts:

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Hi,

I think the IR gadget is mainly useful for finding some lifeform in bad light as a bright dot. You then hopefully have still enough light to use binoculars to actually see the owl.

Joachim

It sounds pretty difficult to do, finding those dots and localizing them afterward, as well as expensive for the higher-quality equipment.

But it would definitely be great as a way of confirming that a tree you suspected of harboring a nest or a roost, did harbor one.

Peter Audrain said:

I’m happy we live in a time unhaunted by international supply problems and stoppages of trade in vital components for consumer goods on the order of the period of the world wars.

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I never tire of this story about the UK and Germany trading in strategic materiel during WWI. Apposite given we’ve just celebrated the 100th Remembrance Day:

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/01/trade-between-belligerents.html