Of course not. And certainly not at that hour. Not a chance that I would think of jumping out of the sofa so late, to get behind the wheel and just maybe catch a glimpse of an owl. After all, I'm not a twitcher!
At first glance, the notification I had received at 11:30 p.m. seemed very tempting. A long-eared owl, barely three kilometres from our headquarters. A beautiful species that I had never seen before. But no, by the time I'd arrive the bird would certainly have already flown. I was also far too tired to search in a dark neighbourhood that I didn't even know well. I politely replied to the message on my phone and yawned for seconds. Maybe another time.
Seven minutes later I parked the car at the village square. Armed with binoculars and a heavy camera, I started looking around, scanning the roofs of the houses. After barely a minute I saw it sitting there, balancing effortlessly on an electricity cable that connected both sides of the street, carefully surveying the road on which I had just entered the village. A perky long-eared owl! Completely undisturbed by the noise emanating from a nearby café approaching closing time.
Before the owl flew away, I wanted to be sure I had got a clear look at the bird. Through my binoculars I looked straight into its orange eyes: it certainly was aware of my presence, but remained unperturbed. Even when I pointed my telephoto zoom at it, using the branches of a tree on the sidewalk as a tripod. The bird was only illuminated by the street lights, but the camera did its job very well: shutter speed 1/4s, maximum aperture and ISO as low as 1600, but still more than decent photos. The first one exactly at midnight!
After five minutes of watching the owl, I noticed that the last customers were leaving the cafe. I was afraid that the owl would also pack its bags, but it just sat quietly. “What are you doing, man?” asked a tipsy beer-goer as I had my face stuck to the camera, still leaning against the same tree.
“Let that man do his job,” said another one in a protective tone. But the former could not contain his curiosity. “What are you taking pictures of, buddy?” I didn't feel like having a late-night conversation and focused on the bird overhead. To my relief, the drunk soon drifted off. I continued down the quiet street and took pictures from a different angle, this time with the illuminated church tower in the background. No tree in that position to use as support, but the roof of a parked car came in handy. Once the owl flew in a circle, completely silently, as owls do, and then landed two meters further back on the same cable. I also tried some freehand shots, against my better judgement, just to see what the camera was capable of in this darkness.
Later that night, I saw on the computer that my nightly stroll had produced some nice images. The long-eared owl, another 'lifer'!
Que bonito! Mereció la pena la excursión!