Love is everywhere, including the animal world, and these two barn owls sharing “a kiss” before cuddling on a branch, is all you need to warm your heart during these cold winter days. The affectionate moment was caught on camera by a wildlife photographer and it is nothing short of adorable!
Leslie Arnott, a 55-year-old photographer from Staffordshire, United Kingdom, was teaching some of her students how to better photograph birds of prey, in both static and flying ways, when the heartwarming moment occurred. The group was following two barn owls in a woodland in Warwickshire, but they had no idea they’ll witness such a tender scene.
Nonetheless, the two birds, which – surprisingly – weren’t mates, but sisters, shared a very intimate moment. They kissed and then snuggled together under the surprised eyes of the photographers. Thankfully, Leslie snapped the once-in-a-lifetime moment!
“The owls are trained but they fly free in the woodland for customers to photograph them,” Leslie explained. “They are quite hard conditions in the dark woodland and the pair flew for a while before sharing their special moment. It was so special when they alighted on the branch and started a little intimacy together.”
Even though, Leslie has taken thousands of photos of birds, including barn owls, she had never witnessed such a scene. According to her, the two birds were actually sister, but as it turns out is very common, especially among owls to be very affectionate to each other.
“They started rubbing heads and getting quite affectionate. Then came the moment they appeared to kiss each other,” she said. It was a moment I have never witnessed before or since – despite many attempts to try and get them to repeat the moment for others. These owls are very affectionate towards each other and work well together however they are not a breeding pair they are actually sisters. ”
The tender moment between the two owls lasted for two-three minutes, enough time for Leslie to capture some extremely adorable snaps of the moment!
“It was luck as much as skill to catch the split second moment and I’m very glad I did,” the woman said. “They continued their tender behaviour towards one another for around three minutes but the kissing happened twice within that period.”
