Digiscoping Break

I spent the whole of yesterday working out of doors at the site of a custom home I am building for a customer at my beloved Avimor in the Boise foothills. I had White-crowned Sparrows passing by and Red-tailed Hawks soaring on autumn air. An American Kestrel made it's presence known with its killy-killy-killy call. On the slope above me, I noticed a large stout silhouette on the the lower branches of a bitterbrush. The tufts on its head that look like ears revealed itself to me, so I had to take a digiscoping break from my work tasks. Being my own boss, I can do that. Plus I got to show some of the trade contractors on site how cool birding is.

Great Horned Owl - digiscoped with a Swarovski ATX 85mm scope and a hand-held iPhone 4S

The Great Horned Owl seemed to be saying to me, "Look buddy. I picked this spot to snooze today, so just leave me in peace. I'll give you enough attention with one eye, but the other is staying shut." And snooze all day this owl did. It was still in the exact same spot when I left at 6:30pm.

Throughout the day, I could hear the strange clucking call of the Gray Partridge covey meandering the hills pecking for food. At the end of the day, my wife and kids came up to help me wrap up the day and the Gray Partridges showed up to give us a nice treat. So once again, I had to take another digiscoping break. The evening light was really nice and I enjoyed the autumnal hues of the partridges and the dried landscape.

Football-shaped partridges feeding

The look-out bird