Recently I had meetings at the Tata Management Training Center in Pune. It’s an amazing place, almost like a national park in the heart of the city. Fortunately, I had my camera bag with me, so I went walking around with my 17-55mm and 70-200mm lenses. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the Sigma 150-500mm nor was I carrying an extender. So 200mm was going to be my max zoom.
While I was walking around, hearing various bird calls and taking aim at some kites that were hovering above, I was told about some resident owls. I went looking for them and was fortunate to spot one of them almost immediately. This Spotted Owlet stared at me for a while and finding no interest (or threat) in me, closed its eyes and looked away.
As I looked around, there were a few tall trees and a nice canopy of leaves through which the setting sun was shooting rays intermittently. One couldn’t imagine that just 100 metres away was one of the busiest roads of Pune. I was intrigued because the TMTC admin head hadn’t mentioned anything about this tree. Very slowly, I moved closer… the owlet stepped behind as I approached. I stood still and a few seconds later, it moved back to its earlier position.
I got a few shots and started looking around to see if there was anything else interesting. Through the corner of my eye, I observed some movement in the hole; I focused the camera there to view the owlet. It was in the same position but it appeared somewhat different. I clicked a pic and compared it with the previous snap – it was one was clearly a different owlet, meaning there was a pair living there! I waited for a couple of minutes to see what would happen. And then, the other one re-appeared.
I was really excited. Not only had I chanced upon an owl nest that the locals didn’t know about, but I had also found a pair living there. It wasn’t clear to me what the relationship between the two was… the second owlet clearly looked smaller / younger than the first one. After giving me the affectionate pose for a few seconds, the ‘younger’ one disappeared to the back of the hole. The first owlet continued to stare at me for sometime. The sound of the trains from the station nearby continued to disturb it. After a while, even it stepped back, out of sight.
What a great urban birdwatching experience!
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The behavior of owls is an awesome adventure. My dad made an owl house for me of untreated barn wood and my poor husband climbed 48 ft in a pine so an owl could fly straight into the new house. I’d read they wouldn’t make several approaches. We’d heard owls but hadn’t seen a nest or anything.
Two days after the house went up, it was occupied by a white owl and we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. About 3 or 4 days later another white owl (much larger) joined the first owl and we never saw one far from the other the remainder of the time we lived on the property. I hated to move from the location but left the owl house behind. I knew the owls would need it more than I would and I could get a new owl house somewhere, althouth it wouldn’t be as wonderful as the one my father made.
What a lovely story, thanks for sharing it!
Wonderful experience! Thanks.