In flight, no less.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
I’d been photographing this male Short-eared Owl fighting with another male over a female and breeding territory in Montana’s Centennial valley when I took this shot. Here he’s cruising just above ground level and in hot pursuit of the other male who’s high-tailing it away. This photo is over 8 years old so I can’t believe I’d never noticed a couple of things that are unique and more than a little peculiar about it until last night.
The left wing is so perfectly aligned with the right wing behind it that we’d never know the right one was there. At first I wondered if the right wing might be in a near-horizontal position which would make it much easier to be hidden by the base of the left wing and the body. But look carefully – at the tip of the wing we can see just a few millimeters of two primaries of the right wing peeking back at us. So that wing is also in a vertical position and almost perfectly hidden in all directions by the other wing.
But the visual magic doesn’t end there because the same thing is true of the two legs. The right one is completely hidden by the left one. On close inspection the only evidence I can see of the right extremity is an extra talon or two on the foot.
I don’t believe I’ve ever taken another photo of a bird in flight where this effect was pulled off so well. Except for the horizontal spread of its tail the owl looks to be two-dimensional only.
I enjoy meaningless but interesting stuff like this in my photos.
Ron
Notes:
- If at first glance it appears to you that the leading wing primary belongs to the right wing, look again. SEO’s have 10 wing primaries and that one is #10 – count’em. Besides, we can follow it down and see where it joins the left wing. At least that’s the way it appears to me.
- Over the years I’ve published three blog posts about the fights between this owl and the other male. If you have the interest most of the best photos of their skirmishes can be seen here.
- My title planted an earworm in my head so I thought I’d share the joy. Anyone out there old enough to remember these words to a popular song: “It was a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people-eater“?
Catching up on this past weeks blogs. Very interesting photo! The cameras lack of depth does odd things.
But now you have that damn song stuck in my head again. Our third grade used it in the Halloween program. I had to go 2 times a week for months with a student to practices. I had barely replaced it with Christmas ditties.
Ron, what a captivating blog you have for us today. The photo in this blog and the photos in the link [2nd bullet point] are beyond words. What a thrill you must have had taking those photos. The upside down owl is my favorite.
Thank you so much
Thanks, Alice. Yes, photographing those fighting owls was one of my high points, ever.
OK, I figured you had a motive! I agree this is a unique shot, and you almost had me until you said he was fighting with another male. Ha, on me to believe a one winged, one legged owl could compete for a mate. I have to admit it sure looks like it from the image.
Great shot another great post!
Thanks, Dick. My intention wasn’t really to mislead, That’s why I put a question mark in my title – couldn’t think of another way to do it in the short space I have for my titles.
Yep. One-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people-eater was the first thing that popped into my mind just from the title, Let’s see…It was a one-legged, one-winged, flying Shortie Voley-eater. Sure looks strange to me. 😉
Catching this shot must be like flipping a coin and having it land on the edge. Amazing!
“Catching this shot must be like flipping a coin and having it land on the edge”
I think it was pretty darned close to that in the odds department, Marty.
Strange but most interesting photo! It’s very deceiving to the eye and keeps you looking trying to figure where things are. I’ll be glad to see it on my computer when I get home.
I enjoyed looking at the ‘fighting post’. Those are fantastic shots…and all that action to ‘ impress the lady’. 🙂 I was glad to hear no contact was made. Have you witnessed any serious contacts and the aftermath? I’m curious how severely they can injure each other. Looking at the final post in that series showing their distance apart it’s a wonder that they even spot each other.
Meant to add this…that song drove me crazy back in the day! Was not a favorite to be sure. My younger brothers sang it all the time often deliberately to be sure. 🙂
Brothers are like that, especially to sisters. I was like that too…
No, they never made actual contact that I was aware of, Kathy. But I know that sometimes they do. And “the lady” was watching the entire performance from the ground.
Not only was the song unique, but who would have thought it would have been composed and sang by the actor who was one of the bad outlaws in the movie High Noon and also a regular trailhand on Rawhide? Zgreat shot and reference.
I knew about and remembered his Rawhide connection but had no idea about High Noon. Thanks for that info, Kent.
I love this photo! You are amazing, Ron.
Thanks, Melanie.
Love this shot! Your work is truly amazing:) I have to admit, I was scrolling through e-mails and deleting all the Black Friday/Cyber Week ads and the title of your post caught my eye. A nice distraction from work and an inspiration after being out in the woods for 1 1/2 hours with no photos myself, again today. Love this shot! Your work is truly amazing:)
Thank you, Kelly. I know that “no photos” feeling all to well.
The picture of the owl is great. The song was a fun trip down Memory Lane. I remember it well.
Thank you, Betty.
I said Mr Purple People Eater what’s your line
He said eating purple people and it sure is fine
But that’s not the reason that I came to land
I wanna get a job in a rock ‘n roll band
🙂
Cool! Unique shot.
Thanks, Art.
Very unique photo Ron. If you had not seen the bird and only had this photo to go with, you really could be wondering if this bird was somehow flying with only one wing. 1958 was 20 years old serving in the Navy on an Admiral’s staff in Naples Italy and don’t believe I have ever heard the song.
Everett Sanborn
Prescott AZ
Thanks, Everett. I didn’t think anyone old enough had never heard this song. They played it to death on the radio back in the day…
Sheb Wooly, 1958. No, I didn’t know this. Googled it.
Yup! I was 11 years old and that song still sticks with me like glue – maybe because I was ONLY 11…
Ahhhhhhhhh earworm! Lol that’s my favorite earworm next to “hey baby I’m your telephone man”. 🙂
Welcome to the people-eater earworm club, Arwen!
Do we get a secret decoder ring? 😉
Santa’s bring it. Not sure which Christmas though…
Neat! 🙂 Almost looks like it’s just “hanging there”. 🙂 The original series is fun to review also. “We like short shorts friendly little people eater sure looks strange to me!” 😉
Ha, you got those additional words to the song perfectly, Judy. Problem is it reinforced my earworm…
Believe another part was “pigeon toed, under toed friendly little people eater” ? Now I’ve got the earworm GEEZ! 🙂