The Nightly Habits Of An Urban Screech Owl

On Nov. 16th, I received a tip from a photographer about yet another screech owl cavity. I decided to make the cavity a part of my Horn Pond trips. I've made frequent stops to horn pond lately, in an effort to find rutting whitetail bucks, hooded mergansers, and other returning waterfowl. The hole is in Arlington, MA, but I don't want to give any more specific information about its location, to prevent crowding around the hole. If you recognize the location from any of the pictures below, you know where this is.

One of the really nice things about this owl, which make it a lot better for photography, is that it shows itself really early, compared to some other screech owls I've shot in the past. The owl in Arlington is tends to show itself at about 4:15, as opposed to the owl in Framingham, which shows at around 4:45. At this time of year, 4:15 is just after sunset, and by 4:45, it is almost pitch black. Awful for photography. This is almost definately because the owl in Arlington is habituated to humans, due to the group of photographers that accumulates near its hole every night. I'm sure the owl in Framingham comes out earlier, (closer to the time of the Arlington owl) when humans arent around. I'm guessing it can hear whether or not there are people outside, and will only come out early if the coast is clear.

The first day that I came to the new spot, I arrived late, and I was still using timer mode on my camera to minimize shake. Minimizing camera shake is very important in low light photography because the camera uses very slow shutter speed, sometimes as slow as 2 seconds. This means that even small camera vibrations, like the ones that are caused by pushing the shutter button, or simply resting your hands on the camera, will ruin the photo, blurring it. At first, I used the timer feature on my camera to give the camera time to settle and become still after pressing the shutter button. 

I was only able to snap a few quick photos on the first night, because I arrived late. The owl flew, and landed in a yellowing maple tree. This was not a good spot, because foliage blocked all views except for right underneath it...

Then it flew across the street, and off into the town, where we couldn't find it.

The second night that I went, I arrived much earlier, and had plenty of time to set up before the owl emerged from it's hole. By this point, the maples that surrounded the owl cavity had almost completely shed their leaves, making photography easier.

It flew to a bare maple branch, further away then its stop the night before. Finally, a good shot of the owl out of it's hole...

Then it landed in another maple tree, this time not stopping long enough for a good shot, and took off into the town. 

The next time I went, I had new gear. A remote shutter. The idea behind that, is that it will allow me to set off the shutter, without touching the camera at all. This not only eliminates camera shake even more, but also means that I can take photos without delay, allowing me to capture moments that only last a few seconds, rather then 

Then it took off after a stretch, heading to a branch overlooking a road. One of the photographers I was with had the idea to try to get the moon in the background. All 3 of us got into the same spot, and crouched to the same height, to put the owl perfectly inbetween us and the bright full moon. I placed the moon off to the right of the photo, to try to make it look like the owl was looking into the light.

Unfortunately, it's mate (another red morph screech owl) passed away on October 15th, not long before I started going to this spot. It's mate's body was found on Mass Ave (Route 2A) without any injuries. It was found only a few blocks away from the cemetery that the owl's cavity is in. Most people i've talked to think that it was killed by second hand rodent poisoning, but the town took the owl, and did not test for SGARs, so I guess we wont know for sure. Apparently there is a lot of SGAR poisoning in the nearby neighborhoods, so it would make sense. Screech owls usually seek out new mates after their mate dies, so I'm hoping this owl will still manage to raise young this year. Courtship happens in late winter.

When I came back, on the last night of November, I arrived super early again, and found a new angle, from the side view of the owl's cavity. 

It took off early, and headed for an open branch, heading north. I set up my camera very close to the owl (maybe 20 feet). It spent a very long time surveying the area, looking side to side, before eventually flying back in the direction of its cavity. One of the pictures below shows one of the effects of slow shutterspeed photography.