…..Two Little Owls!
I posted on my Facebook Page a few days ago that I was ecstatic that after 4.5 years of living here I had heard and spotted a Little Owl close to the house. Some of you will say, “So what? They are everywhere!”, and you’d be right. The Little Owl is very common in the Algarve, however, even though the land around the Quinta is perfect for them, they have been absent, the closest I’ve found is about 1km away – SEE HERE.
I heard one this afternoon so grabbed the binoculars and spotted one sitting on the dead Cork Oak that I suspected it would choose as a nest spot. I didn’t realise at the time that I was looking at a pair (to be fair to Emma, she did say she heard 2 calling each other a few days ago). The tree is about 400 meters away from the Quinta so grabbed the camera with the 80-400mm lens, even so, the tree is still a long way away. Can you spot them both?
Here you go, I’ve circled them
I thought I’d get a bit closer to grab a record shot, by the time I had gotten closer, one of them had disappeared or was hiding, the light is terrible today with thick clouds but I still managed to grab a record shot of one of them.
Not only is this amazing news that they will probably breed in this old tree, but it is quite close to the nature pond and hide that I’m currently planning for this area so maybe a few visits from them when it’s up and running.
To learn more about these amazing little birds take a look at the Algarve Resident article I wrote a while back.