Unusual Behaviour?

glsammy · #1 (**permalink**) 02-01-2006, 10:54 PM

Hi,
Had a great day today at Attenborough, watching three short ear owls hunting. They've been around for the past two weeks.
What I saw today though surprised me. One of the owls had a constant companion, a Jay. Everywhere the Owl went, the Jay followed! There was no agro, they were both at ease with each other. I've enclosed a couple of photos to show you. It was very dark, couldn't get any really good images.
Is this usual behaviour?

StuartDH · #2 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 06:14 AM

What a fantastic sight, we really need a green with envy emoticon

I've never heard of this type of companionship so it'd be great to find out what they were up to.

nightshade · #3 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 08:10 AM

This must be Spot of theYear,there is a saying keep your friends close your enemies closer,if this was a nesting period I would say that was what was happening.
The most likely reason is food based perhaps the jay is prepared to rob the owl if the opportunity arises, must be desperate,or even they just woke up in this proximity well spotted

Helen · #4 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 08:45 AM

I'd tend to agree with nightshade, the jay is staying around in the hope of nabbing some food.

I see this on a regular basis with the kites and magpies.

When the kites are perching in the tree feeding on something, the two magpies will sit closeby watching.

glsammy · #5 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 10:31 AM

When I came across the owls, there were three of them, two flew off on a hunting spree over the fields. The third stayed around with the Jay, making no effort to hunt or bother to follow the other two. I was watching for a good 15 minutes, and all they did was keep the minimum distance from me, hopping from post to post. I've got another 30-40 pictures of the pair of them, expecting the partnership to breakup at any moment.
Eventually I caused the break up, by trying to get too close, the owl left stage right whilst the Jay went stage left! We then spent another hour watching the other two owls hunting... A MAGIC day! A few more pictures.

Helen · #6 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 04:18 PM

Sammy - Please, Never try and get too close to a bird. Remember, it's the bird that matters, not the person or camera.

Good pics, btw.

Cheers

glsammy · #7 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 05:11 PM

Hey? What gives?? Where does this comment come from? I was at best 100 yards from those birds, in full sight of them for 15 minutes, with an equivalent telephoto lens of 1200mm. I was inching forward slowly over that period until I broke THEIR limits.
I didn't do anything that anyone else wouldn't have tried to do.
Are you going to comment on every image where the photographer was nearer than 100 yards?

Fourwings · #8 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 05:17 PM

Wow - thats awesome, what a fantastic sighting.
There's always something very magical about watching Short-eared owls.

Helen · #9 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 05:22 PM

Hi Sammy

Nothing gives at all, at least not that I'm aware of

I made the comment directly as a result of you admitting you caused the break up by "tryng to get too close".

And I will make the comment again to anyone that admits they "tried to get too close".

Cheers.

Mark43 · #10 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 05:26 PM

Some nice pics Sammy.

I would be happy just to see the Owl but having both together like that was a nice bonus.

Mark(never seen an owl in the wild)43

Fourwings · #11 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glsammy

I didn't do anything that anyone else wouldn't have tried to do.

Spoken like a true wildlife photographer, the distance you are talking about is more than exceptable & given the fact that you were in plain sight & on a very public reserve I can't see a problems.

In my opinion it only becomes a problem when your presence intrudes on & disrupts the subjects natural behaviour, and in my experience you have to be extremely close in most cases for this to happen.
Experienced wildlife photographers always put the targets welfare first, and having seen loads of your excellent images I certainly include you in this bracket pal.

glsammy · #12 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen

Hi Sammy

Nothing gives at all, at least not that I'm aware of

I made the comment directly as a result of you admitting you caused the break up by "tryng to get too close".

And I will make the comment again to anyone that admits they "tried to get too close".

Cheers.

Can I suggest you ascertain the full situation before making such comments?
If you were in my position, wouldn't you try and get closer? The birds were in full control of the situation, i.e. they can fly away whenever they like! I was on a public footpath that dozens of other photographers and general public use every day. Most of the public couldn't give a dam about the birds and would have simply continued on until they flew away. My "trying to get too close" was in the context of photography, I never stood a chance to get nearer than 80 yards or so. I could have understood your comments more if the images were close ups, but you can clearly see I've had to stretch every bit of resolution to get anything like a decent image.
I can take it then that you've never had the situation where you've seen a bird in the distance, taken a few pictures, then moved slowly forward to try and get a better picture, the bird flies away and the moments gone. Of course you have, we all have or we wouldn't have any images to put on the web site.
I shall have to be very careful and factually accurate with my descriptions in future. I was simply trying to get over in print the excitement of the moment.
For some reason you think me capable of charging forward without a care for the birds scaring them away, something I would never do.

StuartDH · #13 (**permalink**) 04-01-2006, 07:04 AM

I agree with glsammy, whilst it's easy enough to get too close that you might spook a bird and it flies off to another perch, you're probably never really close enough to cause it any distress or affect it's welfare.

In fact, in the past, I've even climbed trees to get better photos of an owl and, despite only being 30ft away, the owl never showed any of signs of distress. Last week I was out in the Peaks where a Robin was so comfortable with us being around that he sat just a couple of feet away and stayed there for 5 minutes.

Each occasion is different and as long as you don't chase birds around the park or stick your lens in their nest, you can usually get quite close without causing any harm.

It's a fair comment from Helen as some general advice for anyone who goes out taking pictures of birds, but on this occasion I don't think it really applies as glsammy's pics are obviously taken from quite a distance. I'm just gutted that I wasn't standing next to him when he took the pics

glsammy · #14 (**permalink**) 04-01-2006, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StuDH

It's a fair comment from Helen as some general advice for anyone who goes out taking pictures of birds, but on this occasion I don't think it really applies as glsammy's pics are obviously taken from quite a distance. I'm just gutted that I wasn't standing next to him when he took the pics

Thanks for your comments, you would have been thrilled as me and my wife were.
I think I've said enough now.