When it’s this cold and snowy Barn Owls are flying during daytime over much of northern Utah. They’re often not easy to find but when you do locate one they can be fairly cooperative.
And cold it was as I approached Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early yesterday morning. It actually reached 1 degree F. and I was hoping for zero or below but we never quite made it. And yes, as is obvious here my pickup gets dusty and dirty on my bird photography excursions…
When we crossed the bridge adjacent to the maintenance building at the refuge these fascinating ice rings were swirling in the current just downstream from the bridge. They’re circular, raised rings of ice that are frozen in the middle and floating on liquid water. For some reason they remind me of the tipi rings left behind on our Montana farm by the Blackfeet Indians (that’s a stretch I know, but they do…). I’ve seen this phenomenon at least once before at this same place on the river but I can’t explain how they are formed. If there are any hydrologists out there who can solve this little mystery I’d be interested in some feedback.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
We found this Barn Owl (and two others) very early in the morning. It was hunting canal edges near the road and would occasionally land for a short rest. The sun had only been up for a very few minutes so the light was very warm and I like the golden glow in the entire scene.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Eventually the owl roused (shook its feathers) and took off to go hunting again. I was too close with my tc attached to avoid cutting off its wings as it lifted off.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Then this bird surprised me by turning back and heading my way several times. This is one of the shots from one of those approaches. I like the symmetry of the bird in the frame as it is anchored by the out of focus phrags at bottom. Though the upper background may look like sky with clouds it’s actually the snow-covered Promontory Mountains.
It’s usually very difficult to get even one catch light in an eye of a Barn Owl in flight because those eyes are so very deeply set in the skull. One of the several advantages of shooting this early in the morning is that with the sun so low in the sky light often reaches the eye and gives you a catch light which is typically a huge improvement to the image.
I have many more images I like of Barn Owls in flight from yesterday’s experience in Box Elder County but I’ve barely had time to peek at them, much less get them culled. I anticipate posting several more of them sometime in the fairly near future.
Ron
Note: Barn Owls can easily be harassed during this time of stress when they’re forced to hunt during daylight. Food energy is at a premium for them and they can’t afford to have it wasted by being repeatedly chased by photographers, birders or others. I’d encourage everyone to be respectful of this species that we all love.
I am really enjoying your photos Ron. We spend a couple of summer months in Park City and always see interesting birds to photograph. Hey, did you know Bill Finamore? I noticed that you mentioned Farmington and I believe he lived there.I like that you give us the metadata for each pic. L
Those circles fascinate me. I might still be there just watching them!
Ron, I just discovered your blog today. A great Christmas present! Love not just the photos, but your careful, friendly, and respectful attitude to your subjects. Wonderful reading as well as looking.
Welcome aboard, Richard. I hope you enjoy all of your visits here.
An owl AND frozen lily pads??? Yes, I know, but that is what they look like. I can just *see* a frozen dragonfly hovering over them…
Bliss. Megabliss.
Megathanks.
There’s probably a few frozen dragonflies out there somewhere, EC. Thank you.
Beautiful shots of barn owls. I wish them well in these cold temps. It is hard on them. I was going to go out to Antelope Island yesterday to play with my new camera but the cold was too daunting. Maybe the storm will clear out the air, lay new snow and provide warmer temps in the next few days.
Thanks, April. I hope you’re right about both clear air and new snow. I don’t mind the cold temps though…
These are such beautiful, interesting images! Love these owls, especially the first image which shows how they blend in to their surroundings. I love their soft colors and particularly the “sprinkles”….I see the tipi rings and the “water
Iily pads”…the beauty this earth can produce continues to amaze me!!!
I think you once said those “sprinkles” look like star dust, Patty. I like that analogy.
I’m shivery just looking at these pictures, sitting in a warm 68 degree house…. I want them to survive… I want them to fly to a warmer location and have lots to eat and get fat and reproduce…
“sitting in a warm 68 degree house”
I make up for the cold when I get home, Nicole. I keep my thermostat set between 70 and 72…
Fascinating. I keep seeing “ghost water lilies” in those formations. Sorry, I am a dreamer and a fantasist. Just amazing. I so admire your routine early mornings, come hell or high water…. you are an inspiration in so many ways.
“come hell or high water”
I’ve always loved that old phrase, Deborah – my dad said it often when I was growing up. And I guess you’re right – just about the only thing that will prevent me from shooting is crappy light. Hell and high water I can deal with…
Ron, I am continually impressed by your work! I love that you are so willing to share with us, and make it a great learning experience. You make me want to get up early and go driving, but i think my point and shoot would be a major disappointment =)
Just out of curiosity, what*do* you wear when you go out on these cold mornings? Snowshoes?
“what*do* you wear when you go out on these cold mornings? Snowshoes?”
Philina, nearly always I’m shooting from inside my relatively warm pickup but I still have to dress warmly because when I’m on a bird with at least two windows down and the engine and heater shut down it gets miserably cold in there very quickly. When it’s cold I often wear a heavy coat, long-johns, a hat and gloves with hand warmers inside.
One of the most important things to remember when you’re shooting in those temps is not to breathe on your viewfinder. If you do it instantly fogs up and you literally can’t see what you’re shooting. Can’t tell you how many nice shots I’ve missed because of that little problem…
OUTSTANDING images Ron, but that’s the norm for you! Barn owls just blow me away with the intricacy of their feather markings. I’ve gotten to work with two barnies, and with each one, I found myself staring (OK, gawking) at their magnificence. How do they DO that? And the ice circles! WOW! Mother Nature can really put on some shows!! Thank you SO much for your photos this morning. It’s dreary with snarky weather approaching in Upstate New York this morning. I needed some magnificence!
Thank you, Laura. I’m glad my Barn Owl provided you some much-needed “magnificence”.
On another note, I saw your post yesterday on FB and Matt Klar’s response to your question about the unusual flight feathers on that Cinnamon Teal. I’m doubtful about fire being the cause but believe that the feather-picking he mentions is a distinct possibility because that duck was really messing around with those wing feathers for almost the entire time I watched him.
I agree that fire is a low probability. I’m curious about the plant he mentioned, though. I’m about 300 messages behind, but as soon as I uncover his answer to that, I’ll share it. Who knew a plant could turn the feathers into dreads for pity’s sake! That’s not fair!
Beautiful and amazing shots Ron, thanks for 9!
Charlotte
Mother Nature is great in making art work such as the ice pans. And Ron you are great in bring us these great pictures of Mother Nature. You provide a lot of knowledge about birds I never knew and an opportunity to see the birds up close.
“Mother Nature is great in making art work such as the ice pans”
I agree, David. Yesterday I also saw some frost flowers on the ice and they can be beautiful and interesting too.
You obviously had a fantastic Christmas, now will you spend the wee hours of New Years shooting some more great images of ………???
Love your shots of this Barn Owl, especially the one flying.
The colors of a barn owl, at least to get them accurate either in a painting or on a carving, is a challenge. There are so many tiny spots, colors and hues. You are so fortunate to have them out in the open in early daylight. We’re lucky to see them at all here and when we do it is at dusk when the light is so poor.
Thanks for sharing!
“now will you spend the wee hours of New Years shooting some more great images of ………???”
Yup, you’ve got me figured out, Dick. Christmas, New Year’s and Easter mornings are some of my very favorite times to photograph birds because I nearly always have “the place” all to myself.
If there’s any light at all you can count on me being out somewhere on New Year’s – with the added bonus that many folks will be home nursing hangovers…
No hangover for me my good friend, I am going to try and take a lesson from YOUR play book!! VBG!
I can’t think of many things more difficult and frustrating than trying to use good long lens technique with a hangover and a pounding headache!
I would love to see Barn Owls up closer than I have so far, though it’s not likely that will happen. These photos are gorgeous. Those ice rings in the video remind me of a collection of giant water lily pads. Hope somebody knows what they are.
“Hope somebody knows what they are”
Susan, I think Judy (see below) hit the explanation jackpot!
I am still chasing ghosts when it comes to locating our local, and very uncommon, Barn Owls. There is a rumor of a pair nesting nearby in a small town’s YMCA building, so I’ll be heading out early tomorrow. In the meantime, you once again prove it CAN be done! That wonderful golden portrait which is the first owl image would be hanging over my desk so I could begin each morning with a deep sigh of satisfaction.
Thank you for sharing your talent.
“I am still chasing ghosts”
Ha, that describes it well, Wally – even around here they’re nearly always very elusive. Thank you for the kind words.
Another explanation closer to what I’d picked up somewhere on the ice circles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_circle
I think you’ve hit on the answer, Judy! This part of the article seems to explain it logically:
“Ice discs form on the outer bends in a river where the accelerating water creates a force called ‘rotational shear’, which breaks off a chunk of ice and twists it around.[7] As the disc rotates, it grinds against surrounding ice — smoothing into a circle”
All are beautiful, but the first one is magnificent! 🙂 We get a circle or 2 on Belt Creek now and then. Glad to have the info from the link Jeff provided. I’d always thought maybe ice forming was caught in a swirl in the creek, but that wouldn’t hold on the lake so the wind is probably a better explanation – we DO have wind here! 🙂 Tipi rings is a logical comparison.
“I’d always thought maybe ice forming was caught in a swirl in the creek”
It’s my suspicion that the swirling motion you describe is at least partly responsible for their circular shape, Judy.
Ron…your images take my breath away. Warm yummy yellow light bathing a Barn Owl? Come on…these are things people see in their dreams and here you have one fly at you? I am living vicariously through you 🙂 I wonder why we don’t have them in upstate NY? We have the same 4 seasons as Utah. Again…THANK YOU for making my morning!!
Thanks very much, Zaphir. When we look at their range map we see that they’re not found (or are rare) in most of the colder states. Even here in Utah a significant number don’t make it through cold winters. Since they’re non migratory I suspect it’s the cold winters that limits their range.
When we rescued that Barn Owl in sw Montana last summer that bird caused a lot of excitement because it was one of the very few that had ever been seen in that state. Since you’re relatively new to my blog you may not have seen my posts about that bird so I include them below:
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2015/09/10/barn-owl-hung-up-on-barbed-wire/
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2015/09/24/status-report-with-current-photo-of-the-barn-owl-that-was-entangled-in-barbed-wire/
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2015/10/01/barbed-wire-barn-owl-released-back-into-the-wild-with-photos/
Ron, just saw your reply to Zaphir, and of course I had to go back to view them again. I felt the same joy that we all felt with the owl’s recuperation and release!!
🙂
Beautiful owl images Ron. It does look like you are on owl roll 🙂 That is great. I read the explanation of the ice donuts and I am not sure I believe it due to the symmetry of the ice tepee rings. Wind would tend to be directional and that would tend to leave the directional signature in the ring. I think it has to do with up-welling of water in the canal, which I have seen before. Now I will get to spend all day researching this further instead of working on my website 🙂 Much more interesting. I hope your owl sightings and photo ops continue.
Ed, as you can see in the video the water there swirls in a circular counterclockwise pattern and keeps those rings in the same general area. I wondered if that circular flow somehow caused the circular rings. But I can only speculate…
Yes, after seeing the Wikipedia article that Judy posted I think the quote you posted from that article makes sense, from the rotational sheer.
Bear River is one of my favorite areas. I am now confided to hanging out inside for a week with our three Vizslas by the woodstove while Melinda visits family in California — meanwhile the owls are flying in Utah and the Bosque del Apache just got a foot or more snow and it is beautiful. Paying my dues, which I am behind on 🙂
I will live vicariously through you Ron 🙂
Yes, I’ll bet your confinement is frustrating, Ed. But then when you do go you get to play in some very spectacular areas that I’m jealous of…
Yes, it is a little frustrating Ron. However, you may remember me discussing how I am always traveling far away to photograph nature in distant places, when I can walk from our house on thousands of acres of farmland full of wildlife, including some recent Bobcats that everyone in our neighborhood has seen except for me 🙂 So… this is my opportunity to explore my backyard more, let the pups sleep on the couch by the woodstove. The Barn Owls are doing their territorial scream each night now, and I think I will challenge myself to find those Long-eared owls. If the cold in Utah keeps up, I will try to drive out in ~ a week or so — I will let you know.
Ed, I hope you get to see the Bobcats. There’s a beautiful family of them at the park where we volunteer, and it seems like we’re the only people who haven’t seen them… except in photos taken by others…
These are beautiful captures, Ron!! I saw the catch light in your 1st photo and was so excited that I noticed it right away!! However, I did have to go back to see the light in the 3rd photo. Such beautiful owls – I so love the warm coloring of their feathers and the morning sun emphasized it. It was also interesting to hear how stressed these beautiful birds are when they have to hunt during the day!! I have so much to learn about raptors and thankfully I have a great teacher available!!
“It was also interesting to hear how stressed these beautiful birds are when they have to hunt during the day”
Jo Ann, these owls are nearly always stressed when they’re hunting in daylight. They often become very cold – so cold that they shiver violently (I’ve seen it through my lens) and many starve to death during severe winters. Two winters ago one was rescued near the entrance to the Antelope Island causeway because it had a badly frostbitten face. Thankfully that bird eventually recovered and was released back into the wild.
Beautiful barn owl! Unfortunately they don’t hang around Michigan too much so chances of me catching one in the wild are very, very slim.
As far as the ice rings go, we get them on Lake Michigan also. Here is a link that provides a little bit about how they think they form. http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2008/08/ice-donuts.html
Thanks for the interesting link, Jeff. I wonder if that explains these ice rings. Interesting that they call them “donuts” – dang, just might have to go out and get a chocolate one now…
Beautiful images Ron! Your on a roll with owls! You lucky duck!
Thanks, Nancy. The more time I spend in the field the luckier I get!