Patience pays off for Powerful Owl pictures
When it comes to catching owls on camera, Eddie Bernard has got it down to a fine art.
AFTER YEARS OF OBSERVATION Eddie knows a thing or two about their behaviour and how best to go about getting the best candid shots, that highlight their close family ties. In a conversation with Eddie he shared his love for Munibung Hill and how his relationship especially with the birds has paid off.
Eddie – This is one of the baby powerful owls, pictures taken in 2019, and probably the first time we encountered them [at this location on the northern end of Munibung Hill]
There’s quite a series of Powerful Owl pictures. We are still recording them today. There’s a family, the young with the parent birds.
Stuart – What sort of camera and lens are you using for this photography?
Eddie – I’m using a Nikon SLR full frame D600 with a 28 – 300mm lens. I use that to do my shots, that’s the standard camera I use all the time.
And for the night shots?
I use the same camera, but my wife assists by using a powerful torch and then I’ve got to rest against something because it’s usually 1/5th second exposure, and you might do ten exposures and get two good shots out it.
Powerful Owls when the light hits them, they bob their heads, so you’ve sort of, got to pick the right time or fire off a sequence of shots. Because it’s very slow, it’s kind of hit and miss, but as you can see, you do get them.
Go into the torch a bit more?
Eddie – It’s just one of those Maglite torches. But it’s very powerful. It’s a big D-cell battery torch.
If you did use a flash?
You can’t use a flash, not because you’d disturb the owls but because it’s too far away for the range of a flash. It would be ineffective. You’ve got to have light on the subject.
So in summary for someone reading this story, if they wanted to go out and get some pictures like these?
They couldn’t just go out and use their standard flash, you wouldn’t use a flash at all, they’d have to do something like we do here.
There will be more of Eddie’s photography in future issues of MMM.
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Road kill without any thought
Trapped in island bushland, native animals have few options for escape if they are hunted by predators such as feral or roaming domestic cats for example.
NAVIGATING BUSY SUBURBAN STREETS adds to the hazards these animals have to contend with.
This is but one tragic instance that we know of, there are doubtless many others that go unreported.
“I have sad news,” writes Fergus Hancock, in an email to MHCS received April 11, “on Saturday night, a southern brown bandicoot was killed on John St, Cardiff South, near the creek culvert. The animal had been hit in the head with its lower jaw disarticulated. I checked the species identification to be sure it was a bandicoot.”
“We should continue to write letters, post messages and promote community understanding of the value and endangered status of these animals.”
“Many people would treat them as giant rats or possums, killing them without any thought.”
“As if this wasn’t enough,” adds Fergus, “I had to extract a dead brush tail possum from a possum box on our property this evening. It’s been a sad week.”
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Peek a poo – Scatologist citizen scientists
WHEN IT COMES TO THE KEY tell-tale signs of nature that we can learn from, observing the scats of animals is a key to unlocking a raft of information hidden away in those manures.
If you are someone who keeps a watchful eye out for the poo or droppings of animals as they/we visit Munibung Hill, then you are a scatologist.
Your scatological observations, which help us determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet and thus where it has been, is extremely valuable, especially for improving our knowledge of the presence of nocturnal wildlife.
Therefore, you would be very welcome to share your findings with us.
Send photos noting the date and GPS location to: munibunghcs@gmail.com
…. First appeared in MMM Issue #44, June-July, 2024