Photos of my new neighbor

[garybeck]

My new neighbor just moved in.

I live down a dirt road; I'm the last house on my side of the street. About a month ago I met her for the first time, at about 4pm one afternoon. I saw something fly by. I walked behind the tree where it went and there she was hanging out on the power line. When I got there her head was already turned nearly 180 degrees to look right at me. But she had a "non-chelant" kind of look though, not bothered at all, as if to say "oh... whatever... a human." She let me run back to my house, twice... once to get the camera, and then again for the battery (Doh!). She let me get really close. I took lots of photos here's one:



I thought she was just passing by that day and I would never see her again. Then yesterday at 7:30am, I was still in bed and my son came running upstairs to tell me he was eating his cereal at the kitchen table, looked out the window and there she was hanging out in a tree right behind our house. I took photos out the window. After about 10 minutes she flew to another tree on the side of the house. I went outside, walked right up to her, and took about 15 photos of her. She didn't mind at all... Then I got tired of trying to get a steady shot in 10 degree weather (brrr!), and wearing slippers, so I went back inside and grabbed my tripod, came back and she hadn't moved. I took a bunch more photos including this one:



She looked sleepy that morning. Seemed like her eyes were shut the whole time. She must have been up late partying. I wondered if she's the same neighbor I met a few weeks ago. I wondered if that meant she's moving in next door. I figured maybe I'd see her in a few weeks again.

The next morning (today) at 7:30 I looked out my front window and saw that my one human neighbor who lives past our house had gotten out of her car on her way to work and was taking pictures of something. Never saw that before. Wonder what she's taking pictures of. I grabbed my camera, walked to the end of my driveway, turned and looked up, and there she was. Looking right at me. This time there were three large crows on the branch just a few feet away from her. I think they were trying to scare her off. They got scared and took off the second I arrived. But she didn't mind at all I took a few more photos. Here's one:



I think the first one from a few weeks ago is a different bird. Notice the darker circles around her eyes. I'm pretty certain the one from yesterday and today are the same bird. I like my new neighbor. I think we're going to get along just fine.

My camera for the first two is a Lumix FZ35 with 18x zoom. I put it on the setting where it adjusts both the focus and brightness to the center point. I point it right at her and click.
This morning my battery was dead so I used my wife's Lumix ZS1 with 12X. this one is a point and shoot and that's all I did.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Nice, Garybeck.

I love these.

[Celebration]

2. I love your new neighbor!

And your photos. I'm so happy you got these, and shared them.

As an aside, keep your little kitties inside at night......................

We have an owl in our neighborhood that I have never seen! I only hear it, sometimes right outside the window, practically. Frustrating.

[Solly Mack]

3. She's a beauty! Love your photos!

Very gracious of her to wait for you to run back to the house twice.

[Mira]

4. Great Photos, I know you are just thrilled to have captured it, and have

such interesting neighbors around. Beautiful placement and color and it looks OH so cold and almost shivering.

I posted this before but I had an owl like that (two family members really) I found a couple of times on my bike rides in Florida. They let me get close, did not budge, and as you can see were also photogenic.
CC at that time identified it, but I forgot now what it is. They look a lot alike, don't they?

[elleng]

5. Lovely story; thanks for sharing.

[NV Whino]

6. Beautiful!

What a treat.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

7. Wow!

Spectacular!

[juxtaposed]

8. Cool!

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[garybeck]

10. wow that is great!!!!

[juxtaposed]

9. those are great shots! Is that a barred owl?

[garybeck]

11. yup, that's what I've been told

[Mz Pip]

12. Cool neighbors!

I really like the second and third. The owl really blends in with the colors of the trunk and the branches.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

13. I met a relative of your neighbors today.

Quite impressive up close! :bounce:

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

14. Here's a relative of your neighbor

I saw today. Quite impressive up close! :bounce: