What a week it’s been..
Hello, I hope everyone’s week has been as eventful as mine has. First, I hope everyone that is currently on the path of the winter storms are ok and I hope you stay warm and safe out there. It’s been really cold here in Virginia. We have been getting hit with storms after storms ever since the New Year. The weather hasn’t really been in my favor. I did manage to get my first film roll done and I am just waiting for the weather to get better to go to the camera store and get it developed. I have made a couple updates to the website. I am constantly trying to make the interface more pleasing so any feedback is always appreciated.
As you may know I have been birding and photographing birds in the wild. I started and from the beginning I have set goals of birds I have been wanting to capture photo and video. On the top of that list is the Bald Eagle and the Belted Kingfisher. Earlier this month I was following reports of Bald Eagles around the area. I first saw them at Riverbend Park, in Great Falls, VA. There I ran into a gentleman who pointed me on the direction of Algonkian Regional Park in Sterling, VA. This guy pointed me in the right way, I knew of this park as I had visited it before and is close to my house. I went to visit and captured amazing birds and I saw the eagles. I have been going back to this park over the past few weeks and it’s been an experience.
As I was watching the reports to see where and when they were being seen something caught my eye. A Great Horned Owl and a Barred Owl had been spotted on a trail. I started doing research on the owls and started keeping up with the reports and after 2 weeks I can finally say I captured a Barred Owl. As I said the weather here hasn’t been the best and we have been receiving rain every 2 days. Last Tuesday, it rained really hard all day and I decided to go look for a specific trail call the Sanctuary Trail on Wednesday. Hiking conditions were awful and I came back full of mud and with nothing special. On Thursday, I decided to go try find the entrance to this trail. Research really paid off for me that day. I was not only able to find the trail I ran into a nice gentleman who told me where to go to find some beautiful birds and told me about another park that has a lot of feathered friends.
As I started following the trail he told me about I started losing hope as the trail got significantly more difficult as there was a lot of big puddles of water on the trail. I eventually ran into a huge puddle that I could not pass so I decided to go try to go around. As I tried to do that I ran into tree that was blocking the way and there was a lot of bushes with thorns on it. As I decide to turn back something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. At first, I thought it was a Red-Shoulder Hawk as I was only able to see the size of the bird. When it perched in a tree near me I set the tripod and pointed my camera and sure enough it was a Barred Owl. That sure was an experience I was so excited the research and hard work had paid off. I got home and thanked my 6th grade teacher. He really has had an impact in my life and has always been present as a great friend and a wonderful support for my family and I.
Barred Owls, like many owl species actually are surrounded by a lot of superstition. Some cultures believe seeing an owl is a sign of good luck. In my country we believe hearing an owl in general is a sign of bad news on the horizon. A couple months ago for example back in August of last year I heard a Great Horned Owl in Great Falls. Exactly, two weeks later I got the news that a family member was sick and needed urgent surgery. Owl’s are definitely interesting creatures wouldn’t you say. Did you know? Barred Owls don’t migrate, and they don’t even move around very much. Of 158 birds that were banded and then found later, none had moved farther than 6 miles away. I knew it was my day to see this owl that day as I was leaving and was near the parking lot I got to see the Barred Owl again. It had been hunting and had caught it’s dinner. I got to witness the owl feasting on it’s meal. Now, you may be thinking don’t owls prey at night and the answer to that is yes the Barred Owl primarily hunt at night they have been known to also be active during the day. Extraordinary bird of prey indeed.
You don’t want to miss next week as I have something very special to share.
