And an acrobatic landing it was.
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Just a split second before this photo was taken (in May two years ago) the presumed male Short-eared Owl had landed on the post. He kept his wings out for slightly longer than they typically do after touchdown because the landing was more acrobatic than usual so he was still using his wings for balance. He was carrying a vole in his right foot which meant it was a one-footed landing on a severely leaning perch so gaining and maintaining his balance was just a little tricky, especially while looking off into the distance to his right.
Photographing birds during the landing process is difficult (much more so than during takeoff) so I don’t have many photos like this. Throw in the vole (admittedly in shade) and the wings-out posture as bonuses and I was happy to get the shot, despites its flaws – the owl could be a slightly sharper, the light was a little harsh (note the high sun angle from the shadow angle on the bird and vole) and I didn’t have quite enough room on the left to get the composition I preferred (the bird is too centered in the frame).
Like most of my photos the image isn’t perfect but perfection is difficult to achieve when photographing wild raptors that aren’t baited in and/or set up. That doesn’t mean I can’t still appreciate the image for what it is (and is not).
Ron
Great pose and eye light.
What a complete show-off that bird is. How I envy his ability to do more than walk and chew gum safely.
And he is beautiful with all his other talents. Slinking away, feeling inadequate.
🙂
I’m totally with you on the walk/chew gum thing, EC. I was doing an outreach event for our local spca today and managed to trip over NOTHING. Fortunately, I just did a quick tap-dance and didn’t succumb to gravity. 😉
Yes, this human design is terribly flawed, and yes, inadequate! Redundancy is a good thing.
What a lovely image, she said in the usual ridiculously redundant manner! I’m about 99.378% sure this is a male with a nest full of little ones along with their mother who need feeding. And further, that he stopped somewhere near the nest so as to look around and see who might have seen his position before heading off to the nest.
I don’t know about you, but I could regularly use wings to maintain my balance! Personally, I think this two-legged, upright thing is a major design flaw when paired with gravity. And this design with only two hands is also problematic. If I’m ever elected Queen of the World, be warned. There SHALL be changes! And a bunch of them! 😉
Yes, this is almost certainly a male, Laura – overall light color, during nesting season and with a vole that it flew off with rather than eating on the spot (indicating it would be taken to the nest for either the female, youngsters or both).
Please, Laura–when you ars QUEEN OF THE WORLD,make it a law that all slacks, shorts, coats,jackets, blouses and shirts have at least one pocket…Thanks, Queen!!!
Oh Patty, that’s a HUGE pet peeve of mine! According to clothing manufacturers, women can’t POSSIBLY do anything important enough to require pockets! DARGH! That’s why I go to the men’s department for my jeans. Right now, I have one pocket for the things that would go in a wallet, the other for keys, Chapstick and eye drops (to keep those things out of my hurty hands and end the whole purse thing off my hurty shoulders), the first cargo pocket for horse treats and the second cargo pocket for dog treats. I’m good! Most girl clothes have nothing for me. Ridiculous!
As a person who has done a couple of face plants this week all I can say is YES.
Be careful, EC!
Laura for QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!
It’s amazing what birds can do. I love the pose in this shot; it looks very acrobatic. I wish I had that level of coordination…
“I wish I had that level of coordination…”
As do I, Susan!
Great shot! Love the spread wings…
Thanks, Patty.
You BOTH get major bonus points for degree of difficulty on this one! 😀
Happy “birthday eve!” 🎂
Is it your birthday tomorrow–and if so, will you finally be old enough to drive(legally), vote and get totally, completely s—face snockered???
Ha, apparently I’ve been “old enough” for some of that stuff since I was 16, Patty! I’m a little smarter now though…
IS IT YOUR BIRTHDAY TOMORROW?????????????
That’s the rumor going around…
I’ll take all the points I can get, Marty. Your memory is TOO good…
Ron, looks like he is posing for you. Only a highly skilled photographer sees imperfections in your work. For 99% of people seeing this photo it would be perfection. I envy you the wide variety of feathered friends you have to choose from. Great photo.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Thanks for the kind words, Everett.
I am amused to see him looking over his shoulder. It appears as if he is worried that someone might have seen that landing.
I think he was more concerned about a potential thief stealing his vole, Arwen…
Cool! 🙂 Since the post is at an angle I imagine it did take a bit more work than usual not to mention watching for something else to steal it! 🙂 Predicting their movements for landing is a challenge since they have more options than with take off. Glad you caught it………
“they have more options than with take off”
They sure do, Judy. And tracking them when they’re approaching the perch is very, very difficult.
Oh my, be still my heart! That is a fabulous capture…don’t you just love that profile look of the face. Certainly don’t see any imperfections in that photo. Recently I was lucky enough to watch one up close fly down to a sign, look around for a while, suddenly fly down right in front of my car, swoop up a vole and go back to it’s perch. ‘He’ sat on that perch and seemed to look me in the eye and nod. Watching him transfer the vole with one foot carefully to his mouth and fly off to eat his evening meal…perfection! That is what I call ‘reality T-V’ that can’t be beat. 🙂
I can tell you think SEOW’s are as special as I do, Kathy. Thanks.
Marvelous shot Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.