Hootie the owl

[ltlredwagon]

My wife and I run a small private school. We have a mountain property which is frequently visited at night by a great horned owl, a huge one even by GHO standards. Of course, he's known as Hootie. I would like to video Hootie and would like recommendations for an appropriate spotlight. We've seen him as close as 50 feet and as far away as maybe 500-600 feet. A favorite tree top is about 200 feet away.

I want to be able to sufficiently luminate him for video. I have a Canon HD camcorder which zooms in well and will focus in fairly low light. I'd appreciate any recommendations for a spotlight.

Thanks.

 

[petersmith6]

please remember that the owl has very good night vission and pointing a very bright light wont do its eyes much good. imagin driving along at night and some one shines a bright light in your face. try a low powerd flood light for area lighting and let him get use to it.

 

[StarHalo]

I've pointed an HID at a night bird once before, a desert eagle, which resulted in it flopping madly in one spot in midair until I turned the light off, when it flew off in some random direction, probably unable to see. And that was the last time I pointed an HID at a night bird.

I now use a ~500 lumen XM-L light (a Xeno E03) that lights up the various eagles, owls, and bats that fly over my house at night without disturbing them in the least.

 

[EZO]

While your interest in capturing video of an owl at night is understandable it would not only be abusive to the owl because it is a nocturnal creature with extraordinary night vision, depending on which state or country you live in it is likely to be illegal.

The practice you are inquiring about is known variously as jacklighting, spotlighting or lamping and even in states where it is not illegal it is frowned upon by wildlife specialists.

An example of a typical state law (Vermont) regarding spotlighting is as follows:

"It is illegal to intentionally throw or cast the rays of a spotlight, jack, or other artificial light on any highway, or any field, woodland or forest, in order to spot, locate, take, or attempt to spot, locate or take any wild animal."

While most of these laws are intended to outlaw illegal hunting at night they nonetheless often make it illegal to shine a spotlight on a wild animal regardless.

 

[ltlredwagon]

Thanks very much for this data. We have seen Hootie fairly early in the evening at times, so I suspect I can improve on my video equipment and get some decent footage. Will give it a shot.

 

[EZO]

Thanks very much for this data. We have seen Hootie fairly early in the evening at times, so I suspect I can improve on my video equipment and get some decent footage. Will give it a shot.

Firstly, welcome to CPF, ltlredwagon!

Hopefully, you can capture good footage of Hootie without having to shine a spotlight on him. I get to see and hear many owls where I live here in Vermont. You know, I go out turkey hunting a few times a year and it can require going out into the woods well before sunrise. The times I've been most likely to see owls "up close and personal" is just after sunrise when they are usually still active. One time out hunting, I was walking up an old logging road just after sunrise when a great horned owl hooted at me and it was so loud it really startled me. I looked up and there he was in all his almost 25 inch tall glory in the branch of a tree about ten feet above my head just staring down at me. It was an astonishing and awe inspiring moment. Of course, one of the techniques used in turkey hunting is to mimic the sound of a barred owl. Once, while doing that as I sat against a tree trunk I had two of them fly to a branch about 4 feet in front of me as it was just beginning to get light out and they sat there just looking at me trying to figure out who or what I was since I was dressed in full camouflage including my face. These are the kinds of special experiences that non hunters often don't understand about why some of us like to go out into the woods at ungodly hours even if we don't have a successful hunt, but that is really a story for another thread. In any event, I mention all this to suggest that you might be able to capture video of Hootie very early in the morning as well as early evening.

Anyway, good luck and let us know what happens! Perhaps you might post some of your results for us to see.

 

[heron163]

I have a great horned owl nesting about 200 feet from my house. They have been raising two owlets a year on average for the past several years... They leave the nest in July and I have inadvertently illuminated them while traveling down my driveway at night... owls are not to be messed with...

 

[DM51]

Interesting topic, and I hope in due course you'll be able to post some footage so we can see it.

Slightly off topic, but just as a matter of interest, how do owls avoid eye damage when it is daylight? Do their irises close right up tight to limit the amount of light getting in? Given their phenomenal night-vision capabilities, their irises must be many oprders of magnitude more efficient than most other animals.

 

[2100]

Seriously, the only way to do it is via a floodlight (so the lux on it is low and you don't need to aim both the camera and the light) and with a digital SLR with a cheap 50mm/1.8 lens. The excellent low light videography capably by the digital SLR would get you there, assisted by the big aperture lenses. Or if you want more zoom, a 85mm f1.8. To give you an idea, a f1.8 lens on a dSLR is capable of getting images which are like 2X more sensitive to your eyes, yes there would be noise but it is ok.

Manual focus, so no worries about AF going out of focus, and also easy to focus on the high-res LCD screen anyway. :) Unfortunately i read that you already have a Canon camcorder so might be unwilling to invest more.