The White-faced Scops owl was one of those owls that i had longed to see and add to my list. It seems that everyone were finding them but me. I managed to see this bird earlier this year on the Zaagkuil Drift Road, but not in the way that I had hoped for. The owl somehow managed to strangle its one wing in a thorn branch and could net free itself. By the time we arrived it had done serious damage to the wing, and we tried without success to reach it and at least put it out of its misery.
My photo was one I very reluctantly added to my collection:
We went of the the far west of Limpopo this past weekend to a farm close to the Botswana border, at a place called Rooibokkraal. Last year we hear one African Scops-owl, and this was the extent of the area’s night life.
This year we did not hear one African Scops-owl, but got Pearl-spotted Owlet, two Barn Owls and at one stage thee White-faced Scops-owls. I first found one early in the morning heading back to its roost, and although crappy, the photos would be much better than the one I had.
On our last night I heard one close to camp and headed off with the torch and camera in the hope of a better photo. Well, I did pretty well and am very pleased with the photo I now have in the collection:
