Australian Owls Winter 2017

Australian Owls Winter 2017

Australian Owls - Winter 2017

One of my focal points for this year's plans was seeing and photographing Australian Owls, preferably those I had not seen or photographed before. It all started not exactly on January 1, 2017 but back in November 2016 when Hanna and I saw the Eastern Grass Owls up in Queensland, shown to us by Alan Gillanders from Alan's Wildlife tours. Earlier in the year I have seen the Tasmanian Morepork and the local Masked Owl. In June I finally found an individual of the Greater Sooty Owl in the Sydney area.

I had seen the Lesser Sooty Owl of the Australian North, but only from a distance in a day roost. So it was time to give that species another go. When Hanna was in Germany our daughter Christine and I went to Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands to give it a try and we have not been disappointed, it was fantastic time.

We owe Matt Wright from Faunagraphic a lot. He organised the tour and guided us during that exceptional week. Matt is not only a brilliant bird photographer, but he also knows his birds extremely well, especially his owls. Thanks mate, we'll never forget that week and your brilliant work!

Don't miss out on the juvenile Lesser Sooty Owl, clearly the highlight of the show, but the Barking Owls were as brilliant as the other species. The Southern "Red" Boobook presented the greatest difficulties finding it ( I almost lost my glasses and my hearing aid in deep darkness in the rain forest). Christine's support was crucial for finding my glasses and get out of the forest afterwards. We have found all our target species and more. After selecting the best shots and completing the processing I am finally able to publish a selection of my best photos. These show mainly owls, they were the targets of the trip after all, but I have inserted a few other birds as well as a few interesting mammals.

I have added some Rufous Owl photos taken in Darwin, which I saw shortly after the North Queensland trip. Thanks for the great help with this Biggles!

Enjoy and if you like, feel free to provide comments via the Contact page!