Barn Owl, setting up for shots

[Graham00]

I've found a barn off the main road with two window openings where the barn owl like to leave and return at the right hand one.
So one evening i set up my chair, tripod, wore green fleece including a green hat with camo netting over the top, i sat there for half an hour 30ft away pointing my longest lens on the right hand side window opening but nothing !
Am i doing something wrong or was the owl already out before the sun started setting ? or did it know of my presence do you think, my skills in fieldcraft are pretty basic but i kept still as the cold started setting in and my fingers were freezing but i kept saying to myself it's worth the discomfort if it appears
The other night it was on a fence so i crept towards it as i was obscured by the long fence walking up the fence then i was spotted and the owl came towards me before flying away to the field.
I might try and get it used to me by going regurlarly is this the way ?

 

[buckas]

might have not been hungry?

also barnies (owls in general) need it to be quite still wind wise and also not raining heavy

 

[Graham00]

Thanks Drew for tips, it was quite windy actually.

 

[hollis_f]

Barn Owls are crepuscular - they come out in the light. My local one is hunting around 17:00 at the moment. Be aware that you'll need a license to shoot them if they're breeding.

 

[Graham00]

Barn Owls are crepuscular - they come out in the light. My local one is hunting around 17:00 at the moment. Be aware that you'll need a license to shoot them if they're breeding.

Thanks Frank, don't they breed in August time ?
i've just read about a Schedule 1 license which made me surprised to be honest !

 

[hollis_f]

Thanks Frank, don't they breed in August time ?
i've just read about a Schedule 1 license which made me surprised to be honest !

According to my Birds of the Western Palearctic, Barn Owl egg-laying can happen anytime between March and September.

 

[WillNicholls]

Half an hour on a single occasion is not very long for wildlife photography.

Best bet is to set up a camouflaged hide well hidden away underneath some cover with a dummy lens in. Leave it for a week or two, then start using it and wait for as long as you have to. Of course - get the licenses first!

 

[Graham00]

Best bet is to set up a camouflaged hide well hidden away underneath some cover with a dummy lens in. Leave it for a week or two, then start using it and wait for as long as you have to. Of course - get the licenses first!

I would, but it's next to a back road and i'd bet it would be gone by the time i returned
what's the chance of aquiring the licence, i'm filling an online form out.

 

[hollis_f]

A license is not too easy to get. They permit you to disturb the birds at the nest, which is obviously not desirable, so you need a damn good excuse.

Probably the best bet is to spend some time finding out where they hunt and setting up somewhere around there. If you spend enough time there they may get used to you and come quite close. I went on a birding weekend in Norfolk and the guide had got a pair of Barn Owls to accept half a dozen people sitting in a corner of their field. We had the female perched on a fence just 5m away. Then the guide started making noises like a dying vole - and the Owl was hovering about 1m above my head!!!!!! No photos, but, as an experience, it was right up there with visiting Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda.

Our local Barnies, though, are quite annoying. If I'm just pottering around in the garden then they'll quite happily fly quite close. But as soon as I set up a long lens they stick to the opposite end of the field.

 

[Graham00]

I've submitted three bird pictures, not fantastic just a sedge warbler, pied wagtail and a robin, just to show keeness and some proof i suspect, that was a good read Frank, i bet they thought getting the long lens out was a type of gun haha.