Owls In The House

Well, not exactly in the house but you get the picture. I guess it's becoming a custom that every September when I'm spending my summer vacation at home in Chiang Mai, I'd have to take photos of the Asian Barred-Owlets (Glaucidium cuculoides) around my house. This time I counted at least 3 individuals calling from different directions around my house. At least one of them actually stays in my house area. I often hear its call coming from the big tamarind tree in front of my house. Everytime it shows up, the Streak-eared Bulbuls and the Olive-backed Sunbirds always go crazy. These birds would suddenly go and mob the owl. Sometimes the tiny Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers and the noisy Little Spiderhunter also join the gang.

Asian Barred-Owlets (Glaucidium cuculoides)

Last year I even took a series of shots just from my bedroom window. The year before that, I got it in my front yard. This year with a new set of equipment, I didn't only take photos of the bird, but I also took many videos of it. So below are some of the videos I took. The first one shows the bird preening on a tamarind branch at close range. The second one shows the same bird with a male Olive-backed Sunbird which was trying to mob it. The male sunbird is now having a nest hanging just above my door. It must've been trying so hard to protect its nest.

Few days ago I heard a bird calling from a tree behind my house. I quickly grabbed my equipment and tried using playback. The bird responded and flew into a tamarind tree in front of me. It then changed its perch a few times inside the tree before coming out to perch near the treetop. After a while, it began to call. The call it gave was a soft long thrilling call, which I guess is similar to the song of the passerines. Normally it would give a haunted, very loud and alert call which can really creep you up at night. Videos below show the bird while it's calling. Don't forget to switch to HD 1080p mode!

Its transparent nictitating membrane (or third eyelid) can be seen in the left photo

The bird was on the same perch for about half an hour,
so I could even get some of its stretching shots.

Watching Owlet

Last year I got a lot of shots of the Asian Barred Owlet (Glaucidium cuculoides) that had been residing in my house for quite a few years, this year, I couldn't find the same one, but the new individual was found! This new one doesn't have a scar on its left eyebrow and it seems to be in a perfect condition. I guess that the old one was chased away by this new comer or, maybe, dead. The new comer often perches in the longan tree just behind my bedroom during the day, and at night, its loud characteristic call can be heard quite often. Although the bird began to call less often since a couple of weeks ago.

As the bird perched on this branch for almost the whole day, I could sketch and paint it into my sketch book by watching through the view finder of the camera from my bedroom. I even took a crappy video of the bird using my compact digital camera zooming through the VF of my EOS. Wish I can upgrade my camera to have a video function soon...

This is how the work's done! Can you spot the bird?

Owlet in action

My backyard's Asian Barred-Owlet again hehehe. These photos are from last week but I just didn't put them on this blog. So strange that it was tame, so I could get quite close and watch it for almost an hour. Here are some interesting acts before the bird got bored of my face and flew out to the other tree. I also recently got some new facts about the species that it is now splitted from the genus Glaucidium into its own genus Taenioglaux along with its close relation Jungle Owlet (T. radiatum) because of its habits and morphological differences. The pygmy-owls (Glaucidium sp.) usually have the habit of cocking its tail and/or flicking its tail from side to side, while Taenioglaux species don't, and the occipital face which almost every species of Glaucidium owlets has also doesn't occur in Taenioglaux owlets.

This shot shows its nictitating membrane and the scar above its left eye.

Still Around

The same Asian Barred-Owlet was still roosting around my house last Wednesday. It has a small scar above its left eye, so I could recognize it quite easily. However, I didn't see it resting around at daytime since then, but still hearing its loud voice at night. May be I'd bothered it too much...

Long-time Resident

This Asian Barred-Owlet (Glaucidium cuculoides) has been living around my house for few years now. Every night its scarry high-pitched voice is expected to be heard. Though it lives just around my house, it's not easy at all to be seen since it's a master of camouflaging. This evening as I was lying on a couch looking out of the window, a plumpy shadow flashed by the tamarind tree. I knew right then that was it, so I quickly got my camera and here are the results before the bird flew to the other area.