Barking Owls are magnificent creatures.
I’d hoped to share some Dusky Swamphen chicks this week but my computer is still backing up my files. I’ve waited patiently but it hasn’t reached 2020 yet so I’ll save the chicks for another week and share this magnificent owl instead.
Barking Owls and boobooks are hawk-owls, they don’t have a heart-shaped facial disk. Barn Owls and Masked Owls are tyto-owls which do have heart-shaped facial disks. I love the details in the close-up including the beautiful colour of its eyes which seems subtly reflected in its bill. The eyelids have feathers that look similar to eyelashes, and perform the same protective function. Around its bill are rictal bristles which look quite hair-like but are stiff and very sensitive. These bristles are used when the owl is feeding itself or its chick when it needs to go by touch rather than sight, as their close-up vision is poor.
I took this close-up a while ago at Healesville Sanctuary. I can’t access the shutter speed information at the moment but it would have been fast, probably 1/2000th of a second as the owl was constantly turning its head and looking around.
Barking Owls eat insects as well as mid-sized mammals, reptiles and roosting birds. They live in many parts of Australia preferring woodlands with hollow-bearing eucalypts.
As I’m writing this post a dog has started barking on the far side of the creek, ‘woof-woof, woof-woof’ which is very similar to the Barking Owl’s call.
Happy birding, Kim
PS If you’d like to leave a comment please click on the home page, I will rescue your comment if it’s sent to spam. There’s a bug in the latest site update, sorry for the muddle.
~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group Ethical Bird Photography
He’s stunning, Kim! I’m itching to pick up a paintbrush, beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Oh my goodness, first it’s spam, then it’s a duplicated comment 🙁 (just so you know)
So sorry about the spam issue, I’m hoping they’ll sort out the glitch soon. It would be cool to be able to paint the way you can 🙂
Love this image Kim. The eyes have it! Soft subtle colouring and intense scrutiny ☺️
Thanks so much Alison. I love your description of it, perfect!
Nice shot Kim. I love barking owls. I got to give one a scratch whilst it gave contented woofs as I stared into its eyes.
Thanks Stephen. That’s exactly the kind of experience that EC (below) had recently!
Beautiful, beautiful birds – and as a coincidence one of my most recent Sunday Selections was about my own encounter with a pair of them. Sadly they are no longer found in the wild here in the ACT. And I mourn, as I do for the many, many species in jeopardy.
Thank you for your prompt visit to my post about them. I am still smiling thinking about it.
Your visit with them sounded absolutely magical. Let’s hope things improve and they make their wild way to the ACT again. As I write this I’m reminded of my precious friend who calls me ‘hopelessly hopeful’.
Hi Kim. Those eyes are captivating. This is an awesome photo. Hey the Great Grey owls have been spotted here. This is a treat we seem to get once every 6-7 years when they stay for the winter.
Those Great Grey Owls sound magnificent, I’ll do some research to learn a bit about them, I hope you get to enjoy the real birds!
Wonderful write up as usual Kim, i looked for one of these numerous times in Sydney’s Narabeen Lakes area, but never found it
I hope you get to see them soon Bill, and thank you, Kim