Birds of Prey

Owls and other Birds of Prey
Jonathon had such a good time photographing the birds at Doddington in 2013 (see below) that I treated him to another specialist photo day in 2014. First up is Archie, the Barn Owl imitating an angel.
		A good perch, thanks for putting it here for me to land on.
The photo on the right was Jonathon's favourite from the day.

	Clearly, he likes posing for the photographers.	Owls fly amazingly close to the ground but they are so silent that Jonathon said even when one brushed past him he hadn't heard it coming.
Floss the Black Kite was clearly one of Jonathon's favourites from the day



As you can see, Floss is extremely photogenic and quite happy with the photographers. Apparently she likes to land then walk about on the ground.

	Cinders, above and left, is a Canadian Great Horned Owl. She was well camouflaged in the trees. Last but not least we have Rupert, a Tawny Owl - he's also good at hiding in the trees.
		That's it for this visit. No doubt Jonathon will be there again before too long!
We had a lovely day at The Hawking Centre, Doddington for Jonathon's birthday in 2013. Jonathon was the photographer and I got to "spectate" so could take a photo or two as well but not from as close up. This little chap is an Great Grey Asian Owl.


		This is Jonathon taking a photo of said owl.
I understand that taking photos of the owls flying was a lot harder than first thought!
		This lovely little creature is a juvenile female Horned Owl. She was about 8 months old at the time of this photo.

		She was my favourite owl - such pretty colours and you can see she's a youngster because of the fluffy nature of her head feathers.
One of the big owls at Doddington is the European Eagle owl - a very handsome creature.
		Sometimes he just perched and posed!


Arthur, as this owl is known, was hand reared as were the others. He clearly adored Aaron but he played it and persuaded Aaron to help him when he was too lazy to fly onto the log.
		This is a very special little owl. He's a barn owl but with an unusual gene that makes him this darker colour. Very rare, there are thought to be only 2 in the UK.


We then had to leave the owls behind and move on to the other birds of prey. At this point I left Jonathon to it and went to look around the gardens.


		Jonathon was very brave at one point and had the Golden Eagle on his hand (safely tucked in a glove).

		Finally, a vulture called Maggie. Jonathon had a fantastic half day with these wonderful birds (and I am more than happy wandering around the gardens) so no doubt there'll be another visit on the cards before too long.
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