Wild and free Little owl (male)

[dennis greenwood]

Breeding season is now well on the way at all my monitored little owl sites ,and as previously mentioned the male is busy providing for the female at the moment and himself as the female is on eggs and only ventures out a few times a day as the male does not sit on the Eggs ,if you catch both birds out at the same time it will be obvious and easy to sex them, the female will have a very obvious brood patch on her under belly and will not look in the same condition as the male who at this time of the year will have to be in peak condition ,this is the male from the quarry site were the male holds his territory .Canon 1d mkiv 300mm f4 iso 400 1/500 sec -1/3 ev Little owl 25th May by dennis greenwood, on Flickr

[John Robinson]

Very nice Den ! I was just about to put one on almost identical - with the head not full on which makes a nice change.. It can wait !
Nice gentle backdrop too. Talking aboutbrood patches I had a female a year or two back with hardly a feather on her chest. Looked a right mess!
Cheers
John

[dennis greenwood]

Thanks for the comment John,the brood patch provides better blood circulation for heat for incubating the eggs and for me Its the only time I can 100% ID the female ,I know all the traits from both birds but I can only be 99% certain which bird I have coming in that way but I am confident which bird I am seeing ...

[Karl Egressy]

Striking image. Love everything about it.

[Diane Miller]

Stunning detail and wonderful color -- I love it!

[keith mitchell]

Excellent shot Dennis, feather detail.
Keith.

[adrian dancy]

A pretty nice image. I'd be inclined for a landscape crop if that's possible..

[keith mitchell]

Dennis is should be "feather detail excellent" sorry about that.

Keith.