Dirty Barn Owl

Hi all

I noticed this barn owl on my "owl patch" about six weeks ago, and as you can see it has a very dark underwing. Now, I immediately assumed that it had landed in a cow-pat (which there are plenty, you should see my boots!), but surely that would have faded or been cleaned off by now. Both wings are 'dirty' but one side more prominent than the other. Any ideas ? Does cows-dung permanantly stain? Or is it more likely a genetic thing.
If interested, I'll add a montage of other shots later.

Simon

Canon 1dIII 500mm + 1.4

No idea what it landed in, but it is a very nice shot! Well done
Rene de Heer

A few more. The top two photos were taken six weeks ago.


Simon

Hi Simon,

A very interesting looking bird. I must admit with that amount of "dirt" on it's wing, IMO I think it would struggle to fly, and when dived into wet grass, it would, over time get washed away and daily preening and washing would clean it up.

I do think it must be natural markings. It may well be a continental visitor but the rest of the plumage does not suggest an overly dark individual and by the lack of spots on the flanks it looks like a male bird to me which are normally lighter in colour than the female.

It would be good if you could forward these images to Colin Shawyer, his knowledge of the Barn Owl is second to none and I'm sure he would be more than interested in seeing these, and I would have thought would be able to give you an answer, go to his website: http://www.wheathampstead.net/wcp/ then contact via email or give him a call, he is very approachable.

Has Vince seen them, what does he think?? It may even be a bird that has been bred in captivity with a continental race and escaped as I see it has a ring on, other than that contact the BTO and find out who the ringer is in your area and contact him to see if he has ringed any with darker markings.

Thanks for sharing, very interesting

Regards

Rob

Very interesting, It looks as though it may be a genetic thing perhaps - not that I have any medical/science background

Nice light on this one !

Drew

Nice hunting pose and great light - interesting about the colour too.



Mark

My first reaction was that it looks like oil, but hopefully not. A very nice shot in lovely lighting.

Matt

Have you checked out it's roost? looks like some sort of stain... Maybe something has spilt over in the Barn and it's unfortunately got onto it's feathers... Looks to be flying ok and the feathers haven't stuck together, reckon it will be ok....

Lovely shot with great light and composition! Interesting about the stain, no idea what it could be....Hope you can find out. It doesn't seem to be affecting him too much!

I'm no owl expert but the feathers most coloured seem to have lost the feathery bits from the central strut. Its most obvious on the shot on the bottom right of your montage. It almost looks mouldy in the centre of the wing. Wonder it it could be an infection but it does seem to be flying ok in the shots. Interested in the answer you get

Hi all

Thanks for the feedback. Rob, I've emailed Colin but he's away at the moment - his wife said he'd look into it on his return though. I'll be inerested to hear his thoughts.

Simon