July 11, 2013
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First Encounter with A Barred-Eagle Owl
We got a real treat today when an owl popped by over our house this evening, around 7.30pm. We were observing my cats which were starring at something at the side of the house and did see two birds flying away, gliding rather than flapping wings, but were never able to identify them. That brought our attention to something else, a noise seemingly coming from the other side of the house. I went over and looke
d about.. and saw a white animal on one of the branches of the tree located in the middle of the house.
Being a little far away, I couldn’t tell what it was until I got the camera and snapped a few shots. I was excited to find that it was an owl. I went back into the house again to collect the tripod as the camera needed a more stable platform to be able to “collect enough light” that late in the day.
The darn thing wouldn’t stay still though.. constantly moving it’s head sideways. I wasn’t able to focus well enough for most of my shots, but did manage to capture the feature of this animal.
It was a Barred or Malay Eagle Owl. Despite it’s size, it was still a juvenile, which we can tell from it’s white feathers. The adults are brown. It has interesting eyebrow/ears, which define it’s main features.
It was clearly unafraid of us, flying from one tree to another tree towards our direction, coming towards us, eyes fixed in us. It was curious of who we were. After a 10-15 minute show, it flew off to the trees opposite of the house.. too dark to notice anymore.
Checking up more on the internet, I found that this species was quite interesting.. mating pairs mate and stick together for life, go back to the same nest every year and take care of one egg/chick annually. The parents of this owl was probably hanging around somewhere when this picture was taken.
Although it was quite a cool experience, we were worried for our pets.. one swoop from an owl this size.. it’s truly bye-bye for any animal. I guess we need to be extra careful.
