DigiScoping Portugal

Athene noctua (Little Owl)

This owl was one of the animals tha gave more fun to photograph ever. Not only because the moments I spent with it in the field but also for its own story, wich I discovered later by chance, if there's such a thing as chance. I photographed it on November 2nd 2002 and as it was my standard procedure I emailed this picture to my friends. Some weeks later I got an email from a biologist, Ricardo Tomé, whom I didn't know at that time, talking about this picture. Not only was I wondering how had he gotten the photo, I was fascinated by the words he wrote me about this particular owl. I got to know that this owl was captured and ringed on August 11th 1999 during the solar eclipse that happened on that day. At that time it was a flying juvenile and was captured at the same location where I photograpehed it more than three years later. The ringing session was a part of the field work for the doctoral thesis on Little Owl Ecology that Ricardo Tomé was developing and this picture complemented his work with interesting information about the owl. For exemple, it permitted Ricardo Tomé know that this particular owl was still alive and occupying the same territory more than three years after the ringing session took place.

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