Bird of the week - Barn owl

I have had a wonderful time watching a pair of barn owls this week.  The pictures above and below were almost the last ones I took on the first visit.  Most of the time the owls were slightly too far away so the flight photos below are fairly heavily cropped.  Then just as the sun was setting one owl landed on a fence post near the road so I got back into the car and drove slowly towards it.  When I had got as close as I dared I climbed across to the passenger seat and took the photo through the (open) passenger window.

A few moments later the owl dived into the field in pursuit of another vole.

I wrote a Bird of the Week post on barn owls less than a year ago so I won't repeat it all.  Here are a few other photos from this week.

The bird above is darker coloured and has no ring.  The smaller lighter bird below, hunting moments before sunset, is ringed.  Females are generally a bit larger so this may be the male.

A couple of days later I went back.  This time there was only one, the lighter coloured, ringed bird.  It was mostly hunting farther along the dunes and sitting on fence post almost half a mile a way.  It did briefly settle a bit closer but still too far away.  This was the best I could do.

It was wonderful to watch them, despite the cold.  I expect I'll be back again soon.