Three weeks ago now.............I had a very interesting week.........it really started on Tuesday when I went to Bibra Lake arriving before dawn. Nothing unusual about that, or the first few hours which I spent photographing Egrets, Heron and Black Winged Stilts. It was about 8.30 so I started heading back to the car to wipe off the mud and get changed into work clothes. I was walking along the path when I heard a commotion of Crows, Magpies and Willy Wag Tails all swooping around a tree about fifty meters away........then, something took off out of the middle of the tree and flew right past me......it was a Barn Owl.......a stunning creature especially in flight.
It was too quick and I missed the shot. I have never seen a wild Barn Owl, although the species is widespread, found throughout the world and apparently reasonably common. There was no time for thought.......I simply dropped my backpack and ran......after it. It was being pursued by the Crows, Mapies and Will Wags and flew low through the bush. Every now and then it would land and then takeoff, once it's pursuers got too close and too annoying.
At one point it landed for a few minutes in a thick tree and then again in a grass tree.
I was able to get a few shots from a distance, but the pursuing birds were insistent and the Owl was determined to lose them. It took off again and this time flew for a long time.....It was way ahead of me but I caught a glimpse here and there. The Crows, Magpies and Will Wags dropped out of the chase one by one but still the Owl kept flying. Eventually he landed high in a dead tree and perched very still, finally free of annoyance. I got my breath back and crept up slowly, and quietly very conscious to not scare or annoy him any further.
He was aware of me, but did not seem at all frightened, our eyes connected and I sensed a gentle but wild intelligent curiosity..............The mood had descended into stillness, it was just me and him.........I sat down in the grass beneath the trees and spent a long time just watching and taking photos. He was probably the most beautiful bird I have ever seen, his feathers shimmered and were covered in tiny polka dots.....I was truly in awe and didn't want to leave. He had settled into a fork in the tree and seemed content just sitting there..............I wondered if he would stay there for the day.
I had to go to work, I was very late, so I stood and thanked him in my mind for the time we shared and hoped on some level he understood.................I felt extremely grateful to have seen him.
Then I started walking back and realised I had absolutely no idea where I was, and more importantly no idea where the backpack with the car keys was.........................I got my bearings and headed in the general direction of the car...........after about forty minutes of searching I found the backpack and eventually arrived at work very late but very happy. It is a day I will never forget. I have been back to the same area several times in the past few weeks but haven't seen the Owl again.
