Who-o's There?

In case you're wondering, I'm still fitting in my new hobby of wildlife photography (that is, when I'm not hiking or skiing).  A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor and photo-mentor got a tip that two Western Screech Owls were living in a nearby apple tree.  After one unsuccessful trip, we tried again and this time, lo and behold, we found one of the owls nestled into a hole in the tree.   It was so perfectly camouflaged I didn't see it at first.

Western Screech Owl

The owl didn't seem to mind two ladies pointing huge lenses at him.  He (or she, I wasn't really sure) sat in the tree's crevice, eyes closed, trying to sleep.  Then my neighbor got an idea.  She asked her phone to play the call of a Western Screech owl.  When that little owl heard the phone mimicking his call, it's eyes opened wide - and we got our money shots.  As an added bonus, the owl started hooting back a reply.  And although we didn't see the second owl, it also began calling from a nearby tree.  A super-cool experience!

So cute!

Western Screech Owls are small birds.  Weighing only 3.5 to 10.8 ounces, they range from 7.5 -9.8 inches in length, and have wingspans of 21.6 to 24.4 inches.  Although it looks big in my photos, the owl was adorably tiny.  And once we got them to open, I just loved his big, round eyes!

Wide-eyed

That was first my exciting wildlife photo shoot for the new year.  I'm hoping for many more in the coming months.  I just need to hang out with my neighbor more often!

Bonus backyard bird pic

In the meantime, my backyard bird feeders have been providing my big lens with many feathered photo subjects.