My favorite owl experience: I helped a friend who was not a birder at the time see his first owl (barred) after he heard it calling several nights in a row. He still talks about how magical the experience was and has since traded in his hunting gear for a wildlife camera setup! P.S. I love Jennifer Ackerman's books! I have both "The Genius of Birds" and "Birds by the Shore" on my nightstand currently :)
Hello @vikasbhatia8683 We wanted to let you know that Jennifer choose your OWL EXPERIENCE as the one to be the winner of a copy of her book... she literally said: "I love all of these, but I think the one that stands out for me is @vikasbhatia8683--because this person and this owl encounter managed to convert a hunter into a photographer. Magical, indeed!" so please let us know a good email address from you so we can get the book shipped your way... CONGRATS from the show crew! 👊
What a great program - always so interesting to have Jennifer on your show! I give it my highest praise - "Not too shabby!" While the most beautiful owl I've seen was a Verreaux's Eagle-owl (with the pink eye-shade!) in Botswana, the most interesting experience was with a Barred Owl in eastern USA. I was about 11 years old, and we had just moved into a new home. One spring night, with my bedroom window open, a Barred Owl landed in a tree outside, and started its caterwauling - I thought it was a demon come to terrorize us or something!
What a book! and always LOVE to have Jennifer with us on the show... even this was our first time airing a rather naked zoom conversation without much editing (not as polished and neat as our normal episodes! ;-) ) this one came out super cool and we can share the LOVE of Jennifer for owls and nature with our followers... ENJOY everyone!
My favorite experience with an owl was seeing a Snowy Owl in Chicago. My son Philip was about a year old and we were taking a Mommy and Me yoga class, when the instructor told us that she had seen a Snowy Owl at Montrose Beach. Of course, I had to see this owl for myself and, thus, Philip and I made the short trip to Montrose and without having to look far, we saw this beautiful white owl sitting proudly on top of the beach house. Although Philip has no memory of this adventure, it was his first birding trip. My husband also had an interesting experience with an owl. We were living near LaBagh Woods, Chicago, and while walking the dog one night, a large bird flew right past him. When he told me this later, he emphasized that the bird made no sound at all. It had to be an owl.
I love owls and have only seen four species, three in the US where I live now, and one in Guyana where I visited to go birding in 2022. My first was a barred owl someone allowed me to come into their yard to see, but my most memorable encounter was walking through a local preserve, birding, late in the afternoon and suddenly coming across a barred owl, low in a tree. Its eyes were so dark, that I was spooked at first, and someone who was running by stopped to marvel at this beautiful bird and share this beautiful encounter. In retrospect it was a juvenile, because instead of the standard "who cooks for you" or any of the other variations, it was making this screeching sound that I learned later on is the sound juvenile barred owls make. Such a striking, and beautiful creature. This interview was fantastic and I'd love to get my hands on this book.
My best/worst experience with owls.. Last summer Friday night 23:00 full moon, i park next to the cemetery in La Mata near to where I live in Spain. I have decided to make my first night birding session all alone to see if i could hear some night birds. I go deep in the pine forest, replaying the sounds from owls that exist in Spain. 30 minutes later and apart from nightjars i have got nothing, i was starting to get a bit unsettled, that was the first time i went alone in the woods during the night. So i decided to stop replaying the sounds and walk back to where i came from .. a bit faster. Suddenly i hear the most scary sound i ever heard i my life behind me, look behind and there is nothing, but the screams kept getting closer louder and eerier, i froze while the instinct was deciding either to flee or fight. In my mind that sound was coming either from a rabid dog or some kind of demon that i had disturbed, most likely the second one. I controlled myself from running and called my partner to hear a familiar voice to calm me down, but there was no signal. The screams got closer and closer but when i looked there was nothing i could see or hear apart from the screams, one moment they were ahead and next second behind me. That lasted for a minute or so but looked like an eternity. Eventually the sound stopped, i had survived. Later i discovered it was the sound of a Tawny owl that probably wasnt very happy with my presence. A few weeks ago i gained the courage to go to the same place, this time knowing what to expect i knew (?!) i could control myself and record the bird. I took my big dog with me just in case. But this time around, all i could hear was the nightjars :(
I was managing a riding school in Vanuatu. I'd seen barn owls near my home but not in my garden and wished one would take up residence....well, one day I was teaching a young girl in the arena and I could tell she was bored, that it was time to let her have her first ride out in the open. I pointed to a tree a wee way away and gave her the instructions to trot to the tree and walk back. I wanted the whole experience to be confidence building so I was concentrating on staying energetically connected to the pony when I noticed a little Nivanuatu boy holding a fluffy ball in the bushes trying to get my attention. I didn't want to look so he put the owlet on the ground and chased her towards me. A baby barn owl! Pony forgotten I raced over. I was lucky that he bought her to me as Nivanuatu people can be quite superstitious about owls. I took her home under my leather jacket on my motorbike. She was all fluff with a few adult feathers forming. My friend had raised an owl before and knew exactly what to do. She even had a big cage that I could put her in for the first week while she got used to her new life. After a week I bought a tree inside and set her free. I didn't have windows, only fly screen, so my home was perfect for her, and for the next 6 weeks I got to live with a barn owl! She was amazing, so many cool experiences, like when she came out screeching from one of her daytime hidey places in the middle of the day, and shortly after a big earthquake hit the island. She woke me up that night flapping above my bed and screeching right before a big aftershock. Their wings may be silent but the wind from her wings is something I'll never forget. I caught her mice and put them in a large tall laundry basket so she could hunt, I did everything I could to help her release be successful. 7 weeks after I bought her home I watched her fly high into a tree....
My most cherished owl experience: I was searching for birds in Manzanillo, Cartagena, Colombia. It was like 9:00am; sun and temperature very high so I decided to finish my birding. Suddenly lots of birds jumping and making sounds (not singing) inside a tree…I decided to walk back and see what was happening… I saw a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum medianum) in the middle of the tree defending himself from the other bird’s attacks… I can remember some of the birds in the mobbing (technique used by birds when a predator is present) group: Hummingbirds, Jacamar, Wrens, and Bananaquit. This was the first time I was able to see the “false eyes” in the rear of an Owl´s head!!!
Nice show as usual, I have read all previous books by Jennifer. My most favorite owl experience was when I was in high school (1998-99), we found an injured bird and knew it was on owl. We took care of it for a few days with water and some worms (which it didn't eat!!), it flew off after few days. After almost 15 years when I moved to US and started birding (2012/13) and was looking into various birds seen around the world etc, saw this photograph and suddenly remembered this is the bird I took care of all those years ago and it was a Barn Owl. I was so thrilled about it that my first bird was none other than a barn owl which is very rare here in Indiana.
@@diegoCOLbirding Ella sabe mucho de aves. Es una delicia oir a tres tran enamorados de las aves. Llegaron un poco tarde a mi vida, porque ya no tengo tiempo de aprender los nombres ni a reconocer a esos fantásticos e inteligentes animales. Lo que sí sé es que yo volaré al margen de ustedes cuanto sea capaz. Los quiero, los sigo y ya están dentro de mí, dentro de mi vida, dentro de mis intereses.
I walk my dogs at midnight in the street outside my house. I often see a tiny little owl sitting on one of the lamp posts. We make eye contact and in a blink of an eye it disappears without a sound like magic. I think it recognises me and waits for me and my dogs. It’s a magical moment every time. Thank you, Jennifer, for your extraordinary books and studies. I thank you on behalf of the owls too! What majestic miracles! Love and respects, Shaheera from Pakistan.
Great show, and the book is a must. I was with my friend Brian looking for Rufous Owl in Cairns Queensland. A pair had started nest preparation in a large melaleuca tree, and we were looking for them at dusk. They were not in the nest tree. Brian shone his torch in a small acacia tree nearby and spotted the owls directly above us, sitting side by side.. "Get your camera ready, and I'll do a quick spotlight he said. It was tough shooting straight up through a narrow window in the trees. But he shone the light up, and I snapped off a series of shots. Looking through the back of camera I could only see one owl. But where the other owl? I expanded view and could just make out a second beak. It looked like a 2 headed owl! Then it dawned on me. We were looking right up the female's bum whole she was having sex! Imagine you had some weirdo with a flashlight directly below your nuptial bed! After the proverbial cloacal kiss, the male flew to a nearby tree where I got a clean shot of him. If looks could kill!
My closest encounter with an owl was about 10-12 years ago while walking through the Harvard campus in my neighborhood in Cambridge. On a fairly low hanging branch directly over a busy walkway was a great horned owl. I watched it for a while, turning its head back and forth watching people coming from both directions, seemingly curious but not fearful or upset. Stayed there for quite some time. Great show, thanks!
I was out hiking in a area called the Wildcat Hills just south of Scottsbluff, NE USA. I was moving up a deep draw when a young Great Horned Owl came out of a tree ahead of me and flew up the draw ahead of me. As I continued to hike the same owl came out of another tree and was evidently trying to fly and keep and eye on me because it crashed into a pine tree and his wings were all spread out like he splatted into the tree in mid-flight. His head was turned back toward me trying to find out where I was. The he started struggling trying to get himself back together. It was quit Humorous watching him trying to right himself. I tried to attach a picture to the owl in the tree but I could not do it.
My most favorite Owl experience was on hearing about a roost spot for Long-eared Owls in Kentucky. I worked with the land owner and another birder to organize four outings for people to see them. We had people come from all over Kentucky and had a scope set up for them to see them from a distance. Everyone was so thankful and it was a very fulfilling to get so many people to see the birds.
My favorite owl experience: I helped a friend who was not a birder at the time see his first owl (barred) after he heard it calling several nights in a row. He still talks about how magical the experience was and has since traded in his hunting gear for a wildlife camera setup!
P.S. I love Jennifer Ackerman's books! I have both "The Genius of Birds" and "Birds by the Shore" on my nightstand currently :)
cool experience!... and great you like Jennifer's books.. we also love them! ;-)
Hello @vikasbhatia8683
We wanted to let you know that Jennifer choose your OWL EXPERIENCE as the one to be the winner of a copy of her book... she literally said:
"I love all of these, but I think the one that stands out for me is @vikasbhatia8683--because this person and this owl encounter managed to convert a hunter into a photographer. Magical, indeed!"
so please let us know a good email address from you so we can get the book shipped your way...
CONGRATS from the show crew! 👊
yeah, please, send us an email to chirp@thebirdersshow.com
@@TheBirdersShow Will do :)
What a great program - always so interesting to have Jennifer on your show! I give it my highest praise - "Not too shabby!" While the most beautiful owl I've seen was a Verreaux's Eagle-owl (with the pink eye-shade!) in Botswana, the most interesting experience was with a Barred Owl in eastern USA. I was about 11 years old, and we had just moved into a new home. One spring night, with my bedroom window open, a Barred Owl landed in a tree outside, and started its caterwauling - I thought it was a demon come to terrorize us or something!
pretty crazy experience... glad you enjoyed this episode!
What a book! and always LOVE to have Jennifer with us on the show... even this was our first time airing a rather naked zoom conversation without much editing (not as polished and neat as our normal episodes! ;-) ) this one came out super cool and we can share the LOVE of Jennifer for owls and nature with our followers... ENJOY everyone!
:-)
My favorite experience with an owl was seeing a Snowy Owl in Chicago. My son Philip was about a year old and we were taking a Mommy and Me yoga class, when the instructor told us that she had seen a Snowy Owl at Montrose Beach. Of course, I had to see this owl for myself and, thus, Philip and I made the short trip to Montrose and without having to look far, we saw this beautiful white owl sitting proudly on top of the beach house. Although Philip has no memory of this adventure, it was his first birding trip.
My husband also had an interesting experience with an owl. We were living near LaBagh Woods, Chicago, and while walking the dog one night, a large bird flew right past him. When he told me this later, he emphasized that the bird made no sound at all. It had to be an owl.
got to see my Snowy Owl lifer in that same area... so so cool !
I love owls and have only seen four species, three in the US where I live now, and one in Guyana where I visited to go birding in 2022. My first was a barred owl someone allowed me to come into their yard to see, but my most memorable encounter was walking through a local preserve, birding, late in the afternoon and suddenly coming across a barred owl, low in a tree. Its eyes were so dark, that I was spooked at first, and someone who was running by stopped to marvel at this beautiful bird and share this beautiful encounter. In retrospect it was a juvenile, because instead of the standard "who cooks for you" or any of the other variations, it was making this screeching sound that I learned later on is the sound juvenile barred owls make. Such a striking, and beautiful creature.
This interview was fantastic and I'd love to get my hands on this book.
worth a read that book indeed!
My best/worst experience with owls..
Last summer Friday night 23:00 full moon, i park next to the cemetery in La Mata near to where I live in Spain. I have decided to make my first night birding session all alone to see if i could hear some night birds. I go deep in the pine forest, replaying the sounds from owls that exist in Spain. 30 minutes later and apart from nightjars i have got nothing, i was starting to get a bit unsettled, that was the first time i went alone in the woods during the night. So i decided to stop replaying the sounds and walk back to where i came from .. a bit faster. Suddenly i hear the most scary sound i ever heard i my life behind me, look behind and there is nothing, but the screams kept getting closer louder and eerier, i froze while the instinct was deciding either to flee or fight. In my mind that sound was coming either from a rabid dog or some kind of demon that i had disturbed, most likely the second one. I controlled myself from running and called my partner to hear a familiar voice to calm me down, but there was no signal. The screams got closer and closer but when i looked there was nothing i could see or hear apart from the screams, one moment they were ahead and next second behind me. That lasted for a minute or so but looked like an eternity. Eventually the sound stopped, i had survived.
Later i discovered it was the sound of a Tawny owl that probably wasnt very happy with my presence.
A few weeks ago i gained the courage to go to the same place, this time knowing what to expect i knew (?!) i could control myself and record the bird. I took my big dog with me just in case. But this time around, all i could hear was the nightjars :(
thanks for this one!..
I was managing a riding school in Vanuatu. I'd seen barn owls near my home but not in my garden and wished one would take up residence....well, one day I was teaching a young girl in the arena and I could tell she was bored, that it was time to let her have her first ride out in the open. I pointed to a tree a wee way away and gave her the instructions to trot to the tree and walk back. I wanted the whole experience to be confidence building so I was concentrating on staying energetically connected to the pony when I noticed a little Nivanuatu boy holding a fluffy ball in the bushes trying to get my attention. I didn't want to look so he put the owlet on the ground and chased her towards me. A baby barn owl! Pony forgotten I raced over. I was lucky that he bought her to me as Nivanuatu people can be quite superstitious about owls. I took her home under my leather jacket on my motorbike. She was all fluff with a few adult feathers forming. My friend had raised an owl before and knew exactly what to do. She even had a big cage that I could put her in for the first week while she got used to her new life. After a week I bought a tree inside and set her free. I didn't have windows, only fly screen, so my home was perfect for her, and for the next 6 weeks I got to live with a barn owl! She was amazing, so many cool experiences, like when she came out screeching from one of her daytime hidey places in the middle of the day, and shortly after a big earthquake hit the island. She woke me up that night flapping above my bed and screeching right before a big aftershock. Their wings may be silent but the wind from her wings is something I'll never forget. I caught her mice and put them in a large tall laundry basket so she could hunt, I did everything I could to help her release be successful. 7 weeks after I bought her home I watched her fly high into a tree....
lovely story!!!
I just love this book!
we all do !
My most cherished owl experience: I was searching for birds in Manzanillo, Cartagena, Colombia. It was like 9:00am; sun and temperature very high so I decided to finish my birding. Suddenly lots of birds jumping and making sounds (not singing) inside a tree…I decided to walk back and see what was happening… I saw a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum medianum) in the middle of the tree defending himself from the other bird’s attacks… I can remember some of the birds in the mobbing (technique used by birds when a predator is present) group: Hummingbirds, Jacamar, Wrens, and Bananaquit. This was the first time I was able to see the “false eyes” in the rear of an Owl´s head!!!
cool... que nota! siempre los Glaucidium le traen pajaritos a uno en el monte! ;-)
Nice show as usual, I have read all previous books by Jennifer. My most favorite owl experience was when I was in high school (1998-99), we found an injured bird and knew it was on owl. We took care of it for a few days with water and some worms (which it didn't eat!!), it flew off after few days. After almost 15 years when I moved to US and started birding (2012/13) and was looking into various birds seen around the world etc, saw this photograph and suddenly remembered this is the bird I took care of all those years ago and it was a Barn Owl. I was so thrilled about it that my first bird was none other than a barn owl which is very rare here in Indiana.
cooooool!, what a neat lovely story Keshava!
I have read one of her books, I loved it! After that it is impossible not to be enamored with birds. this conversation is fabulous
¡que bueno que te gustó Ana querida!
@@diegoCOLbirding Ella sabe mucho de aves. Es una delicia oir a tres tran enamorados de las aves. Llegaron un poco tarde a mi vida, porque ya no tengo tiempo de aprender los nombres ni a reconocer a esos fantásticos e inteligentes animales. Lo que sí sé es que yo volaré al margen de ustedes cuanto sea capaz. Los quiero, los sigo y ya están dentro de mí, dentro de mi vida, dentro de mis intereses.
@@criscris5061 que nota Ana... las aves no le llegan ni temprano ni tarde a nadie en la vida... llegan pa quedase 😍 - ¡abrazos!
Very interesting, thank you so much!
Glad you enjoyed it Sebastian!
epa hermano... ella es una nota!!!
I walk my dogs at midnight in the street outside my house. I often see a tiny little owl sitting on one of the lamp posts. We make eye contact and in a blink of an eye it disappears without a sound like magic. I think it recognises me and waits for me and my dogs. It’s a magical moment every time.
Thank you, Jennifer, for your extraordinary books and studies. I thank you on behalf of the owls too! What majestic miracles!
Love and respects,
Shaheera from Pakistan.
magical indeed!
sweet!!!
1:00:10
;-)
Great show, and the book is a must.
I was with my friend Brian looking for Rufous Owl in Cairns Queensland. A pair had started nest preparation in a large melaleuca tree, and we were looking for them at dusk. They were not in the nest tree. Brian shone his torch in a small acacia tree nearby and spotted the owls directly above us, sitting side by side.. "Get your camera ready, and I'll do a quick spotlight he said. It was tough shooting straight up through a narrow window in the trees. But he shone the light up, and I snapped off a series of shots. Looking through the back of camera I could only see one owl. But where the other owl? I expanded view and could just make out a second beak. It looked like a 2 headed owl! Then it dawned on me. We were looking right up the female's bum whole she was having sex!
Imagine you had some weirdo with a flashlight directly below your nuptial bed! After the proverbial cloacal kiss, the male flew to a nearby tree where I got a clean shot of him. If looks could kill!
Sweeeet!!!!
My closest encounter with an owl was about 10-12 years ago while walking through the Harvard campus in my neighborhood in Cambridge. On a fairly low hanging branch directly over a busy walkway was a great horned owl. I watched it for a while, turning its head back and forth watching people coming from both directions, seemingly curious but not fearful or upset. Stayed there for quite some time.
Great show, thanks!
wow... crazy!
I was out hiking in a area called the Wildcat Hills just south of Scottsbluff, NE USA. I was moving up a deep draw when a young Great Horned Owl came out of a tree ahead of me and flew up the draw ahead of me. As I continued to hike the same owl came out of another tree and was evidently trying to fly and keep and eye on me because it crashed into a pine tree and his wings were all spread out like he splatted into the tree in mid-flight. His head was turned back toward me trying to find out where I was. The he started struggling trying to get himself back together. It was quit Humorous watching him trying to right himself. I tried to attach a picture to the owl in the tree but I could not do it.
neat!!!
49:14
tamamoto
YES!
My most favorite Owl experience was on hearing about a roost spot for Long-eared Owls in Kentucky. I worked with the land owner and another birder to organize four outings for people to see them. We had people come from all over Kentucky and had a scope set up for them to see them from a distance. Everyone was so thankful and it was a very fulfilling to get so many people to see the birds.
that sounds like a LOVELY experience Ronan!
It is such a pleasure to hear someone so passionate and knowledgeable about a subject. Good look with your book, Jennifer! ❤
she indeed is passionate! WE LOVE HER !!