Unusual Behaviour?

[glsammy]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[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.

[Mark43]

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