The Barnie Owl

Day Out: 17th Dec, 2010

I have been spotting Owls for the last few days at Al Watbah Camel Racetrack.

The first time was when I went with Brent Larsson. That day we saw a Barn Owl and a Short-eared Owl. I was not able to get any photos during that trip. Then it was with Simon, Steve and Dave. We saw the Pharoah Eagle Owl. The next trip was with Yousef Al Habshi and yesterday with Salam and Abbas. The last two trips I didnt carry my camera with me. On the trip with Yousef, he got some decent photographs of the Barn Owl.

So I decided to go and try to get some shots of the Barn Owl and if luck favors, the Short-eared Owl and the Pharoah Eagle Owl. Myself and Salam went today to Al Watbah around 11:30PM. Searched the whole area for almost two hours and to our surprise there was nothing but a Common Kestrel just behind the Bilboard and some Feral Pigeons. There were no sign of either the Egyptian Nightjars or the Eurasian Nightjars. We saw three Hares and two foxes.

We tried our best and was planning to call it a day. It was then we found the Barn Owl. The Owl was quite corporative and allowed us to take some very close shots. I was able to take some videos too. Once he flew and landed on the ground and within a minute he came back to the place. It showed for a good 10 minutes before it flew into the darkness. Then we refound it behind the Billboard. But before I could get my camera, he again flew to the top of the Bunglaw and from there he disappeared into the darkness. We never refound the bird even though we looked for it for sometime.

It was getting too late and Salam had work tommarow. So we called it a day and returned home. Just before we left the place we checked the Pools and found some ducks (I guess Mallards), two Greater Flamingos, good number of small waders (probably Little Stints and Kentish Plovers) and two Egyptian Gooses.

I guess I need to go aroud 7:00 PM to see whether the other Owls (Short-eared and Pharoh Eagle Owl) are still there. I have seen them most of the time within the first two hours after the Sunset.

We finished and reached home around 4:00AM.

A good day.

All photos in this blog is copyrighted to Shah Jahan. Please do not use it without written permission. For more information please contact sjahanmi@gmail.com.