A Morepork...what on earth is a Morepork ???
This must rate as one of my most thrilling bird sightings ever and it took place in New Zealand. I was on a three day visit to Rotorua with my daughter and her Fiance as well as my brother and his family. We had rented an awesome house which was situated near a lake and surrounded by natural forests. We had braaied on the balconey but we had moved inside to eat as it was rather chilly outside. Of course being the birder that I am I had been chasing birds wherever I went and this was drawing everybody's attention to birds that they had never noticed before. Of course there was plenty of joking and teasing that went with this "birding" and I was trying to teach them the names of some of the birds that I had seen that day. With that my brother yelled "There goes an owl !" Well he happens to be the biggest tease out so I didn't fall for that line ..but the next minute I saw a flutter of feathers outside. Well we all flew to the window to look out and lo and behold there was a Morepork helping himself to the moths that were flitting around the outside light. The Morepork is indeed an owl and gets it's name from the sound it makes. I was besides myself and after watching it coming and going for a little while I ventured outside to try and get a photo of it....I needed some kind of photo to prove I had seen it. I thought the owl would disappear so I stayed in the shadows but luckily for me the owl was more interested in the moths than he was in me. I managed to get a photo of it flying away....
I gradually got closer to the owl and eventually my daughter and I were both sitting outside on the balconey. The owl took no notice of us and it actually swooped right past me so much so that I felt it's feathers brush past my arm...I was absolutely stunned !!! The owl was very happy to swoop down to catch the moths and then went to sit in the tree waiting for the next unsuspecting moth to come along.
Eventually it got too cold to stay outside so we went back inside. Everybody was thrilled - not one of the Kiwi folk had ever seen an owl before.
The next evening we pretty much followed the same pattern..braai outside..moved indoors and the owl came to visit again. I went sit to outside with the owl but I did not take any more photos...I had my proof photo.
Lo and behold the next evening the owl appeared again ...unfortunately for me it was raining quite hard so going to sit outside with my new found friend was a bit impossible. I was content to stand and watch through the window but all of a sudden I realised there were two owls.....oh yes mommy owl had brought her youngster to join in the feast. Well I grabbed my camera and rushed outside..rain and all and managed one brief blurry photo of the two owls sitting on the railing....
The youngster then flew back to the tree while Mom came backwards and forwards collecting supper....I took a few more pics but the rain eventually forced me inside...
I was thrilled with this experience..to be so close to an owl is really special.
Entertained by a Morepork*
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