Great Horned Owl at Neck Point

Friday was one of those weird nights where you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. When I pulled into the Neck Point parking lot I knew that I was in for some owl shooting by all of the commotion that the Robins were making. Just off of the parking lot by a couple of hundred feet was a Great Horned Owl. I got my camera gear ready and headed over to the tree where all of the noise was coming from. Sure enough there he was with an added suprise. He had a freshly killed rabbit in his talons.

I have photographed the Owls at Neck Point for years but had never seen one with any prey. This was my lucky night. I was kind of excited and needed to hurry because my light was running out. The owl kept on changing perches and moving from one tree to another. I think he must have thought that I was after his dinner. At first I thought that the animal it had caught was someone's cat because of the distinct black and white tuxedo type markings but later I could see that it was one of the local farrow rabbits that inhabit the park. The Owl finally came to rest on a large fir tree branch about 50 feet up on the side of the hill. It paused there for several minutes while a flock of crows attacked it and that is when I got the shot that is pictured here. Not a bad clarity for a 1/2 second exposure at around 9:00pm in the evening.

McGregor Marsh - Home of the Grosbeak

This week I have been spending a lot of time at McGregor Marsh at the top of Rutherford hill. Tons of stuff going on in there like a lot of places this time of year. There seems to be a large amount of Black Headed Grosbeaks there along with a large number of Cedar Waxwings and other assorted summer birds. If you are lucky you may catch sight of a Western Tanager down near the ponds in the old dead trees. The Grosbeaks usually like to sing from a high perch but there are times when you can get close and find them down low to get a quick snap shot. It took me three or four times out there to get the picure of this guy on the right. He is like a guard and seems to man the entrance to the marsh. A couple of Willow Flycatchers help him out in the same area just to go scurrying away to warn the other birds when anyone approches. Along the way there is evidence of some beaver activity where the upper marsh drains into a metal culvert on it's way to the pond closest to the main road.

If you stay on the road you can access the upper pond which is alive with all sorts of summer birds now such as different types of Verios and lots of different species of Warblers.