There is an amazing story behind this photo of a fledgling Barred Owl with a crawdad, photographed at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Pull up a seat, sit for a bit, and I will tell you about it.
Fledgling Barred Owl with a crawdad – Canon R7, f8, 1/800, ISO 12800, +1.0 EV,Canon Canon RF 100-500 mm at 500m, natural light, not baited
After Steve Creek and I found not one, but three Barred Owls while driving around the refuge in search of birds and animals, something wonderful happened. The owls also taught us more about their parenting behaviors with their young at this age.
There was one young Barred Owl and two adults. At first, we only saw one adult owl perched high on a dead branch of a tree on the left side of the road. Not long after seeing and photographing the adult owl, the young bird showed up and landed in the middle of the road. I took photos of the fledgling Barred Owl parallaxing on the gravel road. That is about the time the second adult flew past us and landed somewhere behind where Steve had parked his pickup truck.
The adult owl flew from the left side of the road to the right and landed in a dead, vine-covered tree, and the young owl soon followed it and landed on another branch just a few feet from its parent.
Just moments later, the adult owl swooped down from the tree towards the right side of the road. Both Steve and I saw a crawdad at the edge of the road, below where the adult owl had flown. A minute or so later, the adult owl flew over the crawdad again without trying to grab it.
By then, Steve and I were wondering why the adult hadn’t simply snatched the crawdad up when it had been so close. Then it dawned on us that the adult owl was showing the young owl where the crawdad was and teaching it how to hunt.
The adult Barred Owl made one final pass over the crawdad. Steve and I held our breath and watched as the young owl left the tree and pounced on the crawdad. It was not long after the pounce that I took this image.
I didn’t have much light when I photographed the owls and my ISO was higher than I would have liked it to be. But the image itself and what I witnessed yesterday morning will remain forever etched into my memories. It was magical. Magic is all around us, we only need to look for it.
Great birds plus wonderful company equals a terrific day.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Barred Owl photos.
What a great narrative! You made me feel like I was there too. Fascinating. Oh, and the pic ain’t too bad either. Thanks Mia.
Your story-telling is just as Magical as your beautiful pictures! Thanks so much for sharing!
That is an amazing story to go with that gorgeous photo. Thank you for sharing.
An amazing story. Thank you for sharing!
Magical Moments! Thank you for sharing!
Lovely story and so great to be able to witness the adults teaching their young to hunt for themselves.
Your story explained is always delightful to read. Thanks
What a gift to get to see that! I was excited just reading about it!
What a wonderful, magical story!
Thank you for your combined patience so that we all may have a glimpse into the magic of nature!
Elephants Child as said exactly what I was going to say. Amazing parenting indeed.
Your story explained is always delightful to read. Thanks
What a wonderful, wonderful thing to see. Amazing parenting. I am sure that happy dances were involved.