Friday, September 17, 2010

Fascinating Birds

I'm back today with a quick update on some of the bird life around our house.  We found the owl in her nest!!!  It is such a thrill to have them back breeding here again.  They've moved their nest to a tree that is really close to our house, and thankfully, it looks a little more protected from the elements.  Here's hoping for happy families soon.  I hope you will see the nest and owl sitting.  Remember, it's about 30 feet off the ground.  I had my camera on 12x, so the photo is a little 'grainy', but, if you enlarge it you should see what I'm talking about.

I also noticed the plovers have hatched already.  I thought I could see little ones around the adult bird when I was driving out yesterday morning.  I did have my camera with me [essential these days!!].  I decided to torment the poor birds again and try for some photos, thinking the little ones probably couldn't get away on me.  What I witnessed was absolutely fascinating.  The parents ran off a short distance, starting screaching, holding out their wings and half limping, as if to let me know they were hurt and easy prey.  The little ones immediately dropped to the ground, without taking a step.  If I hadn't been looking for them, I could easily have stood on them.  They never moved a muscle, just lay there, and pretended to play dead.  I managed to photograph two of them quite closely [there was a third one], but got out of there rather quickly, so as not to upset the family any more than I had already.  Goodness, survival is an extremely strong instinct, and obviously inground from an early age.  

4 comments:

DIAN said...

Linda, it is so good to see that the plovers are already up and about. Is there a chance of a photo of the parents of these little ones?

It is difficult to see mumma owl on the nest but good to know she is moving closer to a safe nesting place.

thanks again for beautiful pics.

fabriquefantastique said...

Linda, is your main photo (you know I'm obsessed with it) a billabong?

Anney said...

Hi Linda,am pleased to have a moment to visit your wonderful blog again...I'm delighted to see the owl back and remember the photo you posted last year in another place..how pleasing to see the owl is happy to return.
Anney x

Radka said...

Great pictures, Linda! It's funny how quickly we get into a habit taking a camera with us everywhere:)It is good to share:)