From Yaron Schmid
I was looking through the wonderful photos taken by Stephen, one of our guests on last year’s Botswana safari, and realized just how much I neglected to share with you (you should check out his amazing shots)! We were driving in search of a leopard when suddenly I heard a bird calling. I had never seen this bird before, but somehow I knew immediately that it was a Pearl- spotted Owlet.
I asked our guide to stop, and lo and behold-there were two owlets in the same tree, chasing some little bird!
The owlets kept jumping from one branch to another, making them anything but easy to photograph. After capturing them multiple times with a branch conveniently blocking their faces, this little guy finally did me a solid and stood still for just a second, perfectly framed by the branches.
Needless to say, it made me a very happy man! Wishing you all a great weekend!
Taken in the Okavango, Botswana, 4/2025. (Nikon Z9, f 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 2200, 560mm)
Stephen Sherrard (mentioned above) did manage to get at least one photo that kinda has both faces.
Some more from Stephen:
It’s very cute! The 180° turns are so goofy
They are tough little buggers to sneak up on! 😀
Your picture makes me think of a teacher writing on the chalkboard when they hear a surreptitious rip and crinkle of paper
It feels very much like that. I try to be sneaky and secretly observe our owl patients, but I will inevitably take too deep a breath or have to change position of a foot and that head will snap around and point right at me!
At least one of those shots made me think
YES!
I’m all about the natural feather look.
