Subject: Barred Owl photos
Date: Jan 15 22:10:51 2004
From: Denny Granstrand - dgranstrand at charter.net


Hi Tweeters,

A Barred Owl has spent the last week in the backyard of a house on the hill west of Selah, WA. I went to see it today. It was calmly roosting about 15 feet off the ground in a fir tree.

When I got to the house on Selah Heights Road, the woman who called to tell me about the owl and her daughter were waiting for me in the driveway. We walked to the back yard and she told me to follow her daughter to see the owl. I followed her to the base of the tree and she pointed up and said "There it is. That tripod probably won't do you much good." And she was afraid I would scare the owl!

I quietly suggested we could get a much better look from across the yard so I set my scope up near the back door and had a perfect look at the owl. Everyone in her family was very impressed at the view through the scope.

I was able to get lots of photos but they were taken at quite slow shutter speeds due to the time of day and the fog. Three of them are in the new photos folder on my website.

Earlier today I was in Sunnyside, southeast of Yakima, and watched a Northern Harrier swoop through a cattle corral and catch a starling. It flew across the road to a field and was proceeding to chow down when a Red-tailed Hawk scared it up and stole the starling. The Red-tail flew far across the pasture with its prize. A photo of the harrier is also in the new photos folder.

Keep the Great Black-backed Gull around until Saturday afternoon!

Denny Granstrand

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
photos on-line at:
http://osprey.bardill.net/gallery/