Barred Owl - The Stare

by Peggy Collins

Title

Barred Owl - The Stare

Artist

Peggy Collins

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Photograph of a wild barred owl as he stop grooming his striped feathers for a moment in order to give me a piercing stare with his deep black eyes. Moments before I had spotted a lump of something in the distance on the railroad tracks where I was walking. I kept training my telephoto lens on the "thing" but couldn't figure it out. I took a picture of it anyway and kept approaching. My husband and I had finally decided it was just a small log in the middle of the tracks. I raised my camera to take another closer look when the thing moved and we realized, too late, that it was a barred owl. I managed to get a quick photograph of the raptor as it flew to a nearby alder tree. Before flying off, the bird's wings had been spread out as it practiced a fascinating behavior called anting. When anting, a bird will spread its wings and tail feathers on an anthill or other area active with ants to allow them to crawl throughout their feathers. Apparently when an ant feels threatened it produces formic acid. The reason why birds practice anting is unknown however there are a number of possibilities: 1) anting rids the bird of parasites; 2) it is a method of grooming; 3) it decreases irritation during feather molting; 4) it removes the powerful acidic substance from ants before eating them; 5) it is a way to stimulate their senses. I have seen crows engaging in anting quite a few times but this was my first experience seeing an owl or any other raptor performing it.

After the owl flew off to the tree it spent the next 10 minutes or so thoroughly grooming its feathers, seemingly not caring one bit that I was standing quite close by, photographing it during its routine. It ran its beak through its wings and tail feathers repeatedly during the procedure. I finally left it alone as my husband was waiting however if he hadn't been there, I felt like I could've watched this cleaning ritual forever as it was truly fascinating.

Uploaded

May 24th, 2021

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