Q... Barn Owl Photography

Hi Guys,

Every year a fantastic display of Barn Owl images appears on this site around this time of year.

I was hoping that perhaps those more seasoned photographers may be able to provide some guidance about best practice for photographing this beautiful bird.

I presume the first step is to locate your owl. Do you find early mornings or evenings are better for observing owls? Obviously this can be site dependant. Someone mentioned in John Swifts stunning barn owl post that some birds come out as early as 14.00!

Once you have found an owl how do you photograph it? Do you use hides? Do you stalk it? How confiding are they to human approach? How do you select your viewpoint? Do you always place the sun on your back? Is it OK to move from where you started or will the owls spook easily?

I’m sorry to be asking so many questions in a single post however I have found my owls and I have been inspired by the high quality images I have seen and now I want to try and get a photo that is not just a white blurred blob with a dark background!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Niall

Hi Niall
my experience in Aberdeenshire is grim. The Barn Owls here only come out to hunt when it is just about dark which is no use for photography. Good hunting.
John
Aberdeen.

Hi Niall

I believe you are more likely to see barn owls in the late afternoon/early evening on a day when it is dry and following a night of constant rain as they will not have hunted the previous night and will be hungry.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

David

Ni Niall,

I will try and answer some of your questions but can't answer all of them, I'm afraid. Obviously this is just from personal experience and hopefully a other people can add their own experiences.

FYI: Barn owls are protected by law so do not attempt to photograph them by at or near the next. You will need a Schedule I license for this. For more info see the English Nature website.

The starting point is finding the owl. They can be seen around dawn and dusk. During spring they have young to feed so are often out hunting for longer, starting earlier in the evening and finishing mid-morning. Summer is also a great time to watch them, thanks to the longer hours. If there has been heavy rain or strong winds then the owls will be unable to hunt due to the noise. After the weather has subsided you can expect to see the owls hunting a great deal to make up for lost time.

Barn Owls are creatures of habit. They use the same plucking/observation perches and have set territories in which they hunt. Over open country I've often seen barn owls pay particlular attention to the boundries, banks, and ditches that border fields - where their prey forages (its often a good idea to reseach the prey species of your subject so you can quickly find hunting grounds). Look for areas of unploughed long grass that surround the fields. The owls often fly back and forth along these areas so they are important to find.

Spend a couple of weeks watching the owls and noting down their favourite perches and hunting corridors. When you have this, you can select your viewpoint according to light direction - I prefer light falling on the owl as they have terrific colours which are lost in backlighting.

Try to remain stationary. They don't appear to be 'panicked' by humans as such, but will just drift off to another field close by so its best not to got walking around. Establish your viewpoint first using the two weeks observation and you shouldn't need to change position.

I've photographed them from the car and on foot using a hedge to conceal my outline. A hide restricts your view to much for flight photography but you could set-up one near a favourite perch.

Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing your progress.

Firstly do not photograph a Barn Owl close to the nest without a schedule 1 licence, more info can be obtained by contacting the below.
English Nature (Now under the umbrella of Natural England)
Northminster House
Peterborough
PE1 1UA
Main Switchboard
Tel: 01733 455000
(Ask for Schedule 1 Photography Licensing)

In reference to photographing a Schedule 1 species away from the nest & answers to the questions you have requested. This is how I would approach it.

Once you have found an owl how do you photograph it?
The best thing you could do is observe the Owls flight path behaviour over a few days, this flight path would be repeated especially if it is an area where food is being caught. Once the flight path has been mapped carefully then go to the next question.

Do you use hides? I would suggest yes! Once the flight path has been mapped it would be best to set up a hide or sit tightly in a vehicle & wait patiently.

Do you stalk it? NO!

How confiding are they to human approach? Human approach is not the way to photograph this species.

Is it OK to move from where you started or will the owls spook easily? Barn Owls do spook easy, if you need to move the hide, do so during the middle of the day or when the Owl is not out hunting.

How do you select your viewpoint? Map it's flight path through careful observations & sit tight, make sure you wrap up warm & take a flask of tea/coffee.

Do you always place the sun on your back? Yes, this will help to increase shutter speed as the subject will be lit. (Depending on weather conditions)

Do you find early mornings or evenings are better for observing owls? Yes

Barn Owls normally will be out & about either Dusk/Dawn, this will mean high ISO & low shutter speeds, this makes the species a nightmare to photography. Using flash whilst they are out hunting I would personally steer away from, this sometimes will create to much disturbance to the Owl while it is desperately searching for food. Basically, the less disturbance the better if it's to be protected.

I hope the above makes sense & is of help.

Observing Barn Owls & their behaviour I think is more exciting than trying to take their photo. Help to conserve them instead of blinding them with flash

Completely agree with Vincent!

Vincent,

Do you know off the top of your head what the distance from the nest site you are allowed to photograph without a licence?

Gavin

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your informative responses - hopefully this thread will act as a resource for other keen photographers. I will keep you updated of any progress (if I have any!)

I was well aware of the Schedule 1 issue and have no intention of carrying out nest photography without one. Regarding the last requirement for distance to nest; I believe this is inconsequential as it relates to disturbance ot species during the nesting season. As has been argued already in threads on this site this could relate to preventing natural feeding behaviour etc. On a side note its good to see people raising this issue where necessary - Thanks!

For Vincent's benefit I won't use flash (I dont know how to use one )

Niall

Hi Gavin,
I would suggest a minimum distance of about 400 yards to be on the safe side, for more info I would suggest you call the Ghost Busters Sorry I mean English Nature

Niall, fell off me chair laughing lol
Quote (I dont know how to use one )

There's some excellent advice above and just to add my thoughts to this, my approach is simply to let the owl come to me. That requires knowledge of its habits and how the light works at that site. Going to school on the subject is time well spent. In this instance I know that the owl patrols the field edges and I know that one particular field edge will lead the owl towards the light and I know that there is a particular spot on that route with a very nice background. It's then only a matter of time before all the elements fall into place and that's where the luck comes in.

A further point I'd like to make is that life can be very tough for these birds so spooking it from its hunt may be spooking it from its next meal - I know that they get spooked by cars, dog walkers, joggers and what-have-you but I wouldn't want to add to that stress in any way.

The image you referenced in the original post I am of course very pleased with but it doesn't match the feeling I got watching the owl continue to hunt and come almost close enough to touch, hovering maybe 5 feet from me before slowly moving on past me.

Many Regards

JohnS

That's the beauty of the Barn Owl John, your feelings are very well discribed above, magical isn't it

Vince

Hi All,

As you may or may not be aware, I am involvded with a local Barn Owl nest box project, I have two local nest boxes to monitor over the coming weeks and through the breeding season, I have a schedule 1 license as I have to go and physically look in the box if they are breeding and see how many young there are, this will obviously cause a disturbance. I am also using the time monitoring the Owl's to find out all their habit's as to photograph them with as little disturbance from their hunting pattern as possible, This I know will take time but I am already seeing a definate pattern in their behaviour.

The Owl in one box does not come out until very late around 17.00 by that time it is virtually dark and is very difficult to see the Owl, yet the other Owl is often out at around 14.00 and I have never seen it come out of it's roost later that around 15.30, but it does tend to hunt indoors more than the other ie in hay barns etc.

Now that you found the Owl it is just a case of watching from a distance and observing it's routine then finding suitable spots.

They are magical birds and I spend a lot of my spare time watching them, if I can get an image it is a bonus.

HTH

Regards

Rob

great tips all, fantastic reading

There was a fantastic program on PBS maybe 10-15 years ago but the videographer did a very good job of camera angles and light placement. He had 3 cameras set up around the nesting spot in the barn. I actually still think about this program now and then and have never seen anything done better or have so much information about the bird. The slow motion of them flying was just breath taking.....would love to see that show again.

Anybody remember viewing the program back then?

Tony

Hi Tony,

Was it a Simon King film about a pair of Barn Owl's on the Somerset level's?? If so it's called Tyto the Barn Owl and I'm in the process of trying to obtain a copy because as you say it's a breathtaking film, but I'm not having much luck at the moment

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/520327

http://www.venusstudios.co.uk/TheBarnOwl.html

These links may help. I am also after Shadow the Peregrine by Simon King if anyone can help??

Regards

Rob

Now I don`t want to disappoint a few of you guys........but if you go to a open day at Secret World Rescue Centre in Somerset, have a look in the Eagle owl inclosure, there is the very small brick built "Barn Section" in the middle with a false back that Simon used in some the filming of Tyto the Barn Owl!

Rob,
I think I know 2 people that have this video, I`ll get in contact with them I`ll also ask about the peregrine one.

I help out a fair bit at Secret World and Pauline who runs it is very good friends with Simon and he is also the patron, so I`ll ask her also.

Will let you know-I have your email address.

Thanks Brian,

The link to venus studios I posted explains all about how he used some captive owl's, breathtaking stuff though.

Thank you for your help obtaining these films

Regards

Rob

No Problem, I`ve just sent a few emails off.

I saw Jason Venus a couple of weekends ago, when I see him down SW next I`ll ask him, he is bound to have a copy!

Surely the best way is what most people do......find a Barn Owl Centre like Vince's, then clone out the jessies. Crude I know, but let's get real here! OK, not the same spiritual experience, but humans can't help but cheat to gain an advantage / sale!

Dave,
Forst of Dean, UK