SHORT EARED OWLS! And a 2024 GOAL (or should we say G-OWL)... and some bloopers
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- Опубліковано 27 січ 2024
- We took a trip to Surrey in search for the beautiful Short Eared Owl! We've also set ourselves the exciting goal of trying to see all 5 British species of owl this year!
👯 WHO ARE WE
Hello 👋 We’re Sophie and Josie, a UK-based couple who love all things nature, wildlife and the outdoors. We’ll be sharing our adventures in nature as well as some of the wonderful wildlife we hope to see along the way.
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Love the closeups! I did not know owls 'clap' their wings! They are beautiful birds, we have SO many red kites up near us. You are a complete natural infront of the camera (and very funny bloopers)
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Great to hear you enjoyed the video 😁
Great channel, love your enthusiasm. Am looking forward to more videos and sightings....
Thank you so much! 😊 Hoping we can get a few more off our list very soon! 🦉
That was great, some excellent shots ....... love your style of presentation ..... an obvious love and enthusiasm for what you do.
Thank you so much Paul that’s really kind!
It is Short Eared Owl season here in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, USA. I have been trying to get the location they like to hang out every weekend. The area is 105 miles north of where I live so it isn't practical to go there during the week when I am working. I have not seen the wing clap but I have some good interaction pictures with Northern Harriers and some rather close calls with Bald Eagles.
I have seen Great Horned Owls, Barn Owls, Short Eared Owls, and Barred Owls in the wild in the last few years.
Wow Jeffery sounds like you've seen quite the collection of owls! Sounds like you live in a great place for them! We're hoping to come across some more very soon! 🤞🦉
Found your channel by accident but I’m glad I did. Anyone with an enthusiasm and love for nature is good in my book, it’s infectious, thank for sharing.
Thank you so much for your lovely feedback and support!
Lovely video! I saw my first shorties up in Cambridgeshire last week :)
Thanks so much Dom! Hope you had a great time seeing the Shorties! 😀
Beautiful flying owls. Great video.
Thank you!! So glad you enjoyed our video ☺️
Soo wholesome and pure. This is lovely Josie 🫶🏻 lots of love x
Ah thank you so much Jordy!!!
A very good insight into short eared owl's. Grassland and unkempt. Shrub is a key habitat for these species unfortunately with over development of these areas the owl lives in the margins of survival, also a key specie's for volves and shrews which are important also. Some time's heavy rain fall can flood areas like the one featured in this video which can disimate volve populations which are prey species for the owls and raptors.great photography thankyou
Thanks so much David! It was great to see them doing so well here and it isn't too far from some quite built up areas so it's great to see they can still have spaces in urban areas to thrive!
Lovely film! We used to go there often when we lived in London as it was one of the best places for SEOs (obviously) in winter, but also good for Barn Owl, Hobby, Redstart, Dartford Warbler, Stonechat, Whinchat, Kingfisher and Cuckoo. We saw a Barred Warbler there one autumn too. I'm also trying to get all the owl species this year and managed to get three species in one day on Sheppey a couple of weekends back, including my first ever LEO in the UK (my favourite bird - I'd only ever seen them abroad before). Plenty of SEOs were there and a Barn Owl, but the Little Owl stayed hidden for us so we still need to get that and a Tawny.
Thank you so much for your support ☺️ that’s amazing! We’ve been to Sheppey before to Elmley and had a fantastic time. Hoping to go back again very soon!
I'm really glad, UA-cam suggested the Channel to me. I really enjoyed your video and your commentary, knowledge, love for nature. Looking forward to watching your other videos!
Ah thank you so much for your support! Great to hear you’re enjoying our videos 😁
Excellent, your love for the craft is obvious.
Thank you so much! 😊
Very cool! Thanks for taking me along!
We saw some short eared owls - across the pond in Pennsylvania! A first for me, we had 2 last week and 3 today. They did not appear until dusk for us.
Excellent Laurie! We went looking again today at another location and didn't see any at all, I think it was a bit too windy!
You can see these "struggles" almost always, when there is more than one specimen at the same spot. I would rather say that they are playing and improving their skills. SEOs never show any aggression to each other. At least I have never ever seen it. They are polite 🙂
Very nice footage of these beautiful birds by the way!
Love this. I have kind of the same goal here in Austria. Not all owl species we have here but any other than the long eared owl which I found late last year. so keep going and can't wait for more videos of your search for the owls. greetings from Austria
Thank you so much for your support! Oh that’s awesome, good luck with your search too!
Very nice, thanks for sharing ❤
Thank you so much for watching!
Great work. Beautiful.
Thank you very much!
Hi both very nice to see owls thank you.
Thank you Andrew!
Awesome stuff! Short eared owls are one of my favorite owls. Iconic grassland species.
Thanks so much Gabe, they are definitely one of our favourites too!
Muito bom! Amazing video! I love owls!
Thank you so much 😀 we love owls too! 🦉
Brilliant video really enjoyed it thank you 👍
Hi Josie & Sophie.
I guess we are lucky here in Norfolk to have a good variety of owls, especially the short ear owls that hunt on the marsh land up here, good luck in getting all your owls.
😎
Thank you so much, Mike! Wow it sounds like Norfolk is the place to be for owl watching 😀
Amazing. I saw and photographed my first short eared owls earlier this month. They are such amazing birds
That's awesome James! Hope you had a fantastic time capturing the owls!
Great watch. Thanks 😊
Thanks so much Tracey!
very nice, thanks, We have Bard Owls, short eared, pigmy, snowy owls in the winter, saw-whet and barn owls here in the upper left corner of the U.S. fun fun, enjoy!!
Thanks Craig! Wow that's quite the selection of owls! I'd absolutely love to see a saw-whet owl they look like Disney characters 😀
beautiful video, thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much!
Great channel. Keep on the good work
Thank you so much Håvard! 😀
So nice to stumble across your channel. Beautiful work 👏
Thank you so much Jordan!
Best of Luck Josie and Sophie. Nice video and its first time i have every seen the short ear owl. Thank you so much.
Thank you Sandip! 😀
Great work getting all of those shots. Especially the wing clap. About 5 years ago, the short-eared owl population here in northern Utah experienced a healthy breeding season. One day, while out birding near Golden Spike NHP, I had roughly two dozen sightings of these incredible birds. Look forward to the next vid.
Thank you so much 😊 wow we weren’t sure where to look when we saw these ones but two dozen must have been incredible! 🦉
Lovely. Great filming! Here in the US I've seen the Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Snowy Owl, Eastern Screech Owl (both red and gray varieties), Burrowing Owl and Short Eared Owl in the wild.
Wow! That is quite an impressive list! We've only seen the SEO from that list but we'd love to visit the US one day to try and see some of the others! 🦉
@@AWilderLife It's funny... I hadn't realized how many of them I've actually seen in the wild. This is over the space of several years, though, not just one. Some of them are very localized, like the burrowing owls (most easily found in Florida, where I do not live, but have visited) and the barred owl was a total surprise. The screech and the Great Horned tend to be people magnets, especially at wildlife preserves; you usually know one has been spotted by the crowds ... This makes us sad indeed, but frotunately they're not usually close enough for the humans to really endanger them directly.
Thank you for sharing, I am going to my local rspb site today hopefully to find some of these beautiful birds.
Thanks so much Peter! Fingers crossed you see some owls! 🦉
Such a natural presenter and narration voice. Great video!
Ah Henry thank you so much, that's very kind! 😀
Great video. Eastern screech owl ( in Canada )
Thanks Ian! Ah we would LOVE to see an Eastern Screech Owl one day!
I was so excited to see you two have posted a new video! It’s a joy to go on this journey with you. I felt I was there as the video is very immersive. I enjoyed Josie’s idea of seeing the five UK owls. I’ve seen a Tawny Owl fly in a nearby field in my corner of Scotland (near Dumfries). Such majestic animals!
Thank you so much Rose and thank you for your continued support! Keeping our fingers crossed that you see more owls very soon!
What a great day! Congratulations 😊
Thank you!! 😊
Great footage of the Shorties with a bonus Red Kite. Nice to meet you both briefly on my home patch yesterday.
Thanks so much Dave! Great to meet you the other day and see you again soon I’m sure! 😀
Brilliant
Thank you Mark!
Wonderful. We have seen the Short Eared Owls at Staines Moor and a grumpy Little Owl sat on a wall at Hampton Home Park. I have seen a Barn Owl many years ago in Richmond Park. We have also had a Eagle Owl fly over us as we drove down a motorway in Spain at night which was pretty awesome.
Wow sounds like you’ve seen loads Fiona! We love a grumpy little owl haha! Keeping our fingers crossed for more owls this year 😀
Great video Josie, especially the two squabbling. Saw my first SEO in flight yesterday at Elmley
Thank you so much Sean! Hope you had a fantastic time at Elmley, definitely on our list to visit again very soon 😀
Joyous!
I used to see them on the Ouse washes always a delight
They're truly a special animal to get to watch! 😀
You should visit Aberffraw here on Anglesey, some Short Eared Owls here this winter, great video by the way..
Thank you so much David! We would love to visit Anglesey, we might try and squeeze in a visit later this year!
Hope the Owls will still be there when you visit😊@@AWilderLife
Wow, what awesome shots! I've only seen shorties from a long distance away, so cool seeing how acrobatic they can be. Hello from Wisconsin! - Ben
Hello Ben! Thank you so much! They really are beautiful animals ☺️
Awesome footage! That Red Kite was gorgeous! Thanks for sharing this video! Ya'll are killing it right now! Keep it up!
Thank you so much! 😀
Great video! Love the short eared owl footage, capturing them in flight can be quite the challenge!
Thank you so much Youri! They are so acrobatic it can be quite hard following them sometimes! 😀 🤸
Amazing, 1 from 5 ticked off already and you got some fantastic footage of them too. The Red Kite appearance was a lovely surprise! I wish you luck in spotting the other Owls that can be seen in Britain.
I have only ever got footage of a Tawny Owl twice. The first time I was at a local nature reserve early one morning filming, and spotted a sleeping Tawny on a tree branch only several feet away from the path at my head height, lol. The other time was when testing my night vision binoculars at that same reserve before dawn.
Thank you Jay that's very kind! Oh wow we'd love to come across a tawny owl like that, what an awesome surprise! Hope you see lots more owls soon! 😀
Very interesting channel and very good films. Thanks for sharing! //Karl-David
Thank you very much Karl-David! Your support means the world!
Found your channel through the algorithm. It's definitely got it right this time! Great video!
I was lucky enough to see two barn owls two weeks ago driving towards hereford about 06:40 in the morning.
Thank you so much that's very kind! Wow two barn owls in one morning is quite the treat! 😀 we're hoping we can capture some barn owls very soon!
I watch some You tube photographers that sit behind a desk to give tips or teach. However, I much prefer these types of in the field videos. I appreciate learning more about the species you are shooting, and seeing what it’s like in your country! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thanks so much Kelly that's very kind of you!
What lovely shots of these gorgeous birds. Some of the moments almost look slow motion--have you slowed down any of the footage or is it all "in real time"?
Thank you so much 😊 they are indeed slowed down, we think it gives so much more time to appreciate the animals and observe their behaviour more easily 😀
I’ve seen the Great Horned Owl and the Snowy Owl. This was in Michigan, USA. Owls are my favorite birds of prey!
Nice Charlie! I think we have to agree about owls being our favourite too (don't tell the other birds of prey that 😳)
Lovely video glad you had fun on patch.
Thank you so much Shaun! Had a fantastic time!
Wonderful
Thank you Richard!
Hi guys! Another well done video, which I enjoyed immensely. I was just out a couple of days ago looking for some Shorties but was unsuccessful, but will keep trying. I’ve seen Great Horned Owls and Short Eared Owls and Burrowing Owls, South Dakota, USA.
Thank you so much Laurie, keeping everything crossed the Shorties turn up for you! One day we'd love to visit the US and see the amazing owls there too!
Had really good views of Barn Owl at Elmley Nature reserve on the Isle of Sheppey -Kent a few weeks ago. Good spot for - Little Owl, Short Eared and Tawney OwL !
Wow Peter sounds like an incredible day! We've been to Elmley once before but it sounds like a real owl hotspot so we might have to do a video of a trip there soon 😀
So lucky that they're so cooperative with so much light left. Our Short eared owls seem to get active and hunting about the time the sun sets.
The pants you're wearing. Who makes those they look pretty interesting and functional for field pants with plenty of zipper storage.
We felt very lucky indeed! 😀 the trousers are by a company called RevolutionRace - I've been really pleased with their stuff so far so can recommend!
Gobsmacking ❤
Lovely footage
Glad you enjoyed it! ☺️
Gorgeous footage! Such a great video
Thank you so much Hawkin that's very kind!
Nice work
Brilliant video thank you for sharing. I've only managed to see 1 long eared owl and 1 tawny owl over here in Cambridgeshire. Unfortunately both were stationary and pretty well hidden, but I live in hope. Keep up the good work girls
Wow probably the two most elusive! Very exciting 😀 keeping our fingers crossed for more owls!
Great video! You’ve really stepped up the production quality in your recent videos. Glad I watched until the end - the bloopers were gold!
Thank you so much that’s very kind! 😀
Very cool! There's at least 1 owl in my neighborhood, a great horned owl, but it's extremely elusive and I'm yet to capture it on camera!
Ah very jealous Michal! We'd love to see a great horned owl one day! Keeping everything crossed you get to catch it on camera 😀
@@AWilderLife thank you, if I’ll do and make a video I’ll let you know 😅
great video.....watched 4 of them put on a show recently in great smokey mtns
Thank you Scott! Hope you had a great time watching the SEOs!
Wow looks like they gave yall a great show! Beautiful location for them. Still hoping to see them this winter here in Texas, no luck yet 😅
Thank you so much! Hope you see them very soon! 😀
Fantastic video, loved it. Was wondering about looking for short eared Owls this weekend . You've just inspired me to get out and look, my favourite owl too. Just subscribed, looking forward to seeing more of your videos 👍💕
Thank you so much that's very kind! Will keep everything crossed for you to see the shorties this weekend! 🦉😀
Great footage - I've seen all the owls apart from Little - we don't have them up here in Scotland...
Thanks so much Gregg! The little owls are such characters, hoping you get to see them one day! We're hoping to visit the amazing wildlife in Scotland later this year!
Brilliant vlog 😊
Thank you 😊
what a treat to view the owl in flight, a couple owls I have seen, like the harrier, barn and saw whet, they are not an easy film on the move so koodos on your fabulous footage can relate to your enthusiasm,:) liked and sub for more
Thank you so much! We felt very privileged to see them! 😀
I just came across your channel and immediately subscribed! I love short-eared owls and this has been a good winter for them with a lot visiting the UK. Some very impressive footage. What camera and lenses do you use?
Thank you so much Tom! We felt very lucky to see them! I’m currently using the Sony A7iii and the Sony 200-600mm 😊
Nice🎉 great efforts 👏
Thank you! ☺️
New subscriber here, a great job of video and information sharing. Keep up the wonderful work!
Thank you so much Allen! 😀
That was great ladies. I too would love to get all 5 in a calendar year & had a grand start last week with a marvellous Long - Eared Owl, really close too. Good luck!..
Thank you so much Jonathan! Wow the Long-Eared Owl is the one owl that neither of us have ever seen so that is fantastic! Wishing you all the best in your search for the owls! 🦉😀
Hi girls, just a quick update. Cold around Agden res today, no owls but me first Raven & Curlews of the year & lovely scenery too.. @@AWilderLife
@@jonathanwilkinson1461 sounds wonderful Jonathan! Sounds like we’ll have to visit Agden reservoir next time we’re up that way!
@@AWilderLife Hi Ladies, how's the Owl hunt going? Heard a Tawny near Holdworth yesterday but didnae see it alas but DID see a Little Owl on way back to the car so 2/5 so far this year..
@@jonathanwilkinson1461 oh nice Jonathan, a little owl is a great result! Excellent work on being on 2/5 already! We are hoping to find some barn owls very soon as we're hoping they start to become a bit more active as the breeding season starts so fingers crossed we can find and film some very soon! Keep us updated if you see any more owls!
Hi love this video i would love to see them where in Surrey was this as i live in Surrey thanks again for sharing
Thank you so much Dave! We didn’t want to publicise the specific location too heavily but we found out about this particular moor through some lovely Facebook groups that we’re in that are based on wildlife and birdwatching in Surrey. The moor is very well known for them so it might be worth having a look in some of those groups as they also offer some excellent guidance around the best places to stand to see them without disturbing the owls. We hope this helps!
Crumbs, you like a challenge, how are you going to find a Tawny Owl in day light?
Haha we do like a challenge! We've actually seen Tawny Owls during the daylight hours when they're feeding their owlets, they're very busy that time of year so sometimes are out hunting early in the morning. The owlets also start 'branching' and can sometimes be seen exploring the nearby branches before they fully leave the nest box so fingers crossed 😀
Brilliant video! Probably my favourite bird which I’ve only seen at distance once & has become my “bogey” bird. I hope to change that this year. Subbed👍
Thanks so much Trevor! Keeping everything crossed you get to see them this year! 😀
Great vid thankyou. Please think about standing closer to the bramble humps, the owls come closer when they can't see you, plus standing out on the path makes everyone else think its OK
Great advice, thank you, we'll be sure to tuck ourselves away a bit more next time!
Nice❤❤❤
Thanks 🤗
Hi frrom australia loved ur video
Thank you so much Bradley!
Here in my part of the USA (Ohio), we have short eared owls migrate through now. I’ve never seen one, but I keep trying! That’s a bucket list item for me! We have the Eastern screech, Barred owl, and Great horned owls year round. We have others too that I’ve not seen in the wild. I got lucky once and got a Long eared owl migrating in the spring one year, and a Snowy owl once in an eruption year. Are your short eared owls year long residents? It’s winter here and we have many grey cloudy wet and sometimes frozen days. So, not much to shoot these days. Thanks for sharing your hikes!
Sounds like you have some fantastic owls, Kelly! We'd love to see some of the ones in the USA one day. The SEOs only really visit us down in the south of the UK over the winter time, but there are a few year-round residents further north up closer to Scotland I believe! A Snowy Owl here would be a real treat but we can always hope 😀
I used to see long eared owls over by River Lea nature Reserve
Wow nice Terry! We've never seen a Long Eared Owl, that was the one we missed out on last year so hopefully this year is the year!
Nice video. I saw a short eared owl and a barn owl on boxing day last December within 10mins of each other and got some nice photos. I was also wanting to see the other 3 species of owl in the wild after seeing those two. Where was the location that you filmed at please?
Thank you so much! Two owls in one is quite the treat, sounds like an excellent day! We didn’t want to publicise the specific location too heavily but we found out about this particular moor through some lovely Facebook groups that we’re in that are based on wildlife and birdwatching in Surrey. The moor is very well known for them so it might be worth having a look in some of those groups as they also offer some excellent guidance around the best places to stand to see them without disturbing the owls. We hope this helps!
Thank you very much :)
Yay was waiting for this..... cracking video both, really enjoyed it...shocker right ;)
Thanks so much Wayne! We were delighted to get our “owl fix” 😀 starting the search for the next one now 😎 🦉
@@AWilderLife look forward to watching the journey and give me a shout if you need any help or advice
Awesome! Thanks Wayne we will definitely keep you posted! Looking forward to more of your fab shots 😍
Nice footage.
How do you get on with the Dot Sight EE-1?
Thanks Peter! I really like the dot sight, it's been so helpful for birds in flight, particularly if you know you'll only get a few seconds to catch them. I didn't actually use it so much for the owls in this video because they were so active and for so long that it was fairly easy to find them even at 600mm. It's incredibly useful when you've got birds particularly in the sky when you've got no visual reference points for exactly where you're aiming so I'd definitely recommend it!
Thanks for the reply.
Do you have to recalibrate every time you remove it or does it stay accurate if used with same lens?@@AWilderLife
@@peterbowler6524 I probably have to nudge the X and Y axis dials very slightly each time just to make sure it's really accurate just as it's hard to get it in the exact same spot on the hot shoe each time, sometimes I've tightened it a bit more than last time or something which can make a surprising difference! It probably takes less than 20 seconds to nudge it to exactly where the camera is pointing and then you're good to go!
Beautiful footage! What tripod do you have it looks great!
Thanks so much George! The tripod is a Manfrotto carbon fibre 3-section, the model is MT055CXPRO3 and I've got a fluid tripod head from them too on there 🙂
@@AWilderLife Thank you. How are you finding it ?
Hi, what camera setup are you using? Thanks
Hi there! I'm currently using the Sony A7iii with the Sony 200-600mm 🙂
What is the name of the place?
Hi Peter! We didn’t want to publicise the specific location too heavily but we found out about this particular moor through some lovely Facebook groups that we’re in that are based on wildlife and birdwatching in Surrey. The moor is very well known for them so it might be worth having a look in some of those groups as they also offer some excellent guidance around the best places to stand to see them without disturbing the owls. We hope this helps!
Wow, what a special afternoon that was. You got some cracking footage there. We're lucky enough to regularly hear tawny owls very close by to our house. I do have a night cam, which on one occasion caught a tawny owl mantling its prey in our back garden. That can be viewed in this clip, if you have a minute or two to spare. ua-cam.com/video/4nTpMo2fmNs/v-deo.html
Thank you so much Tom! Wow amazing footage you’ve got there, fox and badger and tawny owl all in one! Very much hoping we have visitors like that one day 😀
Firstly I have to say: incredible footage that you've shot of the owls. But (and I hope you'll take this as the constructive criticism it's intended as), it frustrates me SO MUCH that you've shown it all in slow-motion. It exasperates me that so many film-makers and videographers do this without first showing the clips at normal speed. If we're shooting "nature" then surely we should show it "naturally" first, and then by all means show it slowed down afterwards for emphasis or illustration of a particular behaviour - a good example would be the for wing claps.
That said, keep up the good work, 'cos your love of nature and your desire to share it shines through, and I'm totally on board with that. Please feel free to check out and "constructively criticise" one or two of my humble efforts if you get the chance! ✌🤓✌
Thank you so much for your feedback! We are always looking for ideas on how to improve not only our wildlife knowledge but our filmmaking too. I think the slowmo point is very valid, I do feel that sometimes our experiences with nature (particularly things like small birds!) can be so fleeting that replaying that in slowmo gives the viewer an extra ability to appreciate that animal and observe it’s behaviour in greater detail. In this particular video we were also hoping to put across how watching these owls can make you feel, sometimes actually like time has slowed because all you’re doing is enjoying watching that animal! I think it’s a very interesting topic and a welcome discussion 😀
@@AWilderLife - good points well made. A perspective I will bear in mind. 👍🤓👍
Apparently barn owls are not owls, i don't know what they are though.
Ah interesting one! I know I've seen owls being split into 'true owls' being the family Strigidae, whereas the Barn Owl does indeed belong to the Tytonidae family, but both those families belong to the order Strigiformes. I wonder if the Barn Owl would feel a bit hard done by not being referred to as a 'true owl' 😅
@@AWilderLife Where did barn owls live before hupersonbeings invented barns?
That's incredible. I'm a wildlife photographer based in Sussex (focusing on underwater photography).
You mentioned its a well known location, could I get in touch to get a bit more info please? Via Instagram or so?
Thank you so much! We didn’t want to publicise the specific location too heavily but we found out about this particular moor through some lovely Facebook groups that we’re in that are based on wildlife and birdwatching in Surrey. The moor is very well known for them so it might be worth having a look in some of those groups as they also offer some excellent guidance around the best places to stand to see them without disturbing the owls. We hope this helps!
@@AWilderLife thanks, I'm fairly certain I know the rough area now, so I'll head out Saturday. Thank you!
I hope 300mm with a 1.4x TC will do ☺
Couldn’t do it. Nope. Click’n out.
Thank you for your comment! I’m not sure I understand ☺️