On a previous visit to Bob’s house at Cheltenham, one of his neighbours, Steve, had taken me down to see the nesting site of a pair of Powerful Owls. I now had another chance to visit – Bob and told me Steve had visited the nest site that morning and the male Powerful Owl had a possum clutched in his talons and that he would most likely feed the chick in the nest hole that evening at dusk.
So I travelled up to Cheltenham, called into Bob’s place for a cuppa and then walk down the street to meet Steve. He arrived with another bird photographer, and we set off the short way to the nesting site. On the way, Steve pointed out the male owl with the possum.
We then waited near the nest hollow. We also spotted the female partner perched in a tree not too far away.
It took while for things to happen. The owls seemed to be waiting for the nearby Sulphur Crested Cockatoos to shut up their raucous squawking. They did this right on dark – about 5:55 pm – and it was getting quite dark, which would make any photography very challenging.
Then we heard the Powerful Owls calling and we got a glimpse of a chick’s head sticking out of the nest hollow.
Then all of sudden the male owl flew to the nest and looked in. Then it looked around to make sure things were OK, and then it entered the nest with the possum.
It was very interesting to watch this. I thanks Steve and Bob for alerting me to this fascinating encounter with Nature. Steve, remarked that the chick must be close to fledging.
That was indeed the case. About a week later, another message from Bob arrived in my inbox letting me know that there were in fact two chicks and that they had now fledged. This meant that they now were outside the nest, and would probably be perched in a tree close by. So I made another trip to Cheltenham, and this time walked to the site with Bob. We spotted the owlets straight away – perched a few metres apart in a tree close to the nest hollow.
Not too far way were the parents.
Owls are supposed to sleep during the day, and that what the parents were doing, but the Owlets had their eyes wide open. I think they were like very curious to see what was going on around them.
This time there was plenty of light and I was bale to get some reasonable photos.
The next day, I had been out bushwalking with Bob, and when Bob dropped me off, instead of at Cheltenham Station, we both walked down from his place to see the Owlets. This time they were perched a fair way apart and a lot further away. So the photos are not as clear.
One was a bit closer than the other and was easier to photograph.
At one stage it almost seemed to fall off its perch.
We could only spot one of the parents this visit.
It was a real privilege to be able to observe these amazing animals. Thanks to Steve and Bob.