Pet on the loose? (2)

Aaron Vella, St Paul's Bay

What a wonderful photo by Keith Micallef. Pity I did not have my camera when only last week a flamingo managed to eat all the fish from the pond in my garden after which it stood in the sun all morning before taking off, unharmed by the spring hunters. At first I thought the barn owl in the photo was Mr Micallef's pet, but if it was, he would have noticed that birds of prey very rarely drink water, let alone from people's gardens.

Considering the amount of time I spent legally enjoying spring shooting in the Scottish countryside (one of the largest EU member states), I have never to date managed to witness a barn owl so oblivious to a human being trying to ram a camera into its face. May I suggest that the ruffled feathers (considering the photo was actually taken in Malta) denote that the bird in the photo was actually someone's pet gone astray.

Comments

Nyal Xuereb (on 29/4/08)

These pets going loose happen regularly. I've seen all kinds of escaped birds in my garden that you'll start to think we're in the amazon.

Adrian Allain (on 29/4/08)

It is indeed a shame that Mr Vella did not have a camera to photograph the 'flamingo'. I think that he would probably have got a photo of a heron or egret. His bird recognition leaves much to be desired, although he claims to be able to tell the difference between a wild barn owl and a 'pet' barn owl.
Flamingos are not equipped to eat fish. They filter water through their specially shaped bills to collect algae, diatoms, small insects and other tiny creatures. He must put the blame elsewhere.
Incidentally my kestrels, that had been injured and were being hacked back to the wild, not only drank water but enjoyed bathing in it.