Lee Tiah Khee was with KC one dark night in October 2008 when they heard the distinct call of an owl around a tree. Sensing that something was amiss, they located an adult Collared Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena) arriving on a branch with a lizard clamped in its bill. The lizard was headless, apparently a result of an earlier struggle.
Suddenly the hungry fledgling appeared on a nearby branch, having heard the adult arriving. Immediately the adult passed the dead lizard to the fledgling and flew off to keep watch nearby.
Clasping the prey firmly in its talons, the fledgling began to feed on the lizard.
Images by Lee Tiah Khee were captured with a 600 mm lens.
This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
4 responses
I recently saw my first collared scops owl chicks, high up in a palm tree. It was in the day, and so they were asleep, snuggled next to each other They looked a lighter colour than this, but catching them in action like this is quite amazing.
Excellent captures of this very interesting owl Lee. My favorite thing about birding is learning the bird’s habits and behaviors. Learning these important aspects to birding is what helps us find the birds we want to observe in the first place.