Prepare yourself for possible overkill.
I’ve said before that I’m a fan of consecutive flight shots with no skips, especially when they involve takeoffs and/or landings, because they tend to give the viewer a better sense of the dynamics, effort and coordination required for flight. But that can involve a lot of sometimes similar photos that may be too much of a good thing for some viewers.
Well, it isn’t for me so that’s what we’re gonna get today. Another reason a series like that appeals to me is that many consecutive flight shots are hard to get, so we don’t see them very often.
In Part I two days ago, I documented this Short-eared Owl abandoning one hunting perch, a metal fence post, and flying to a new one, this clump of bushes in Utah’s west desert ten days ago. This is the last photo I posted in Part I.
The following twelve photos are consecutive shots in a burst without any skips. There are skips before and after photo #14 and before #15. Many of these shots mostly speak for themselves so it’s my intention to keep my narration to a minimum. We’ll see how that goes.
The presumed female owl spotted prey on the ground some distance in front of her, so she took off after it.
While I was processing the photos the strong backlight was a challenge for me to deal with in the entire series.
Immediately after takeoff she had to rise high enough to clear the tallest twig in front of her.
Twig cleared. Now she can power-stroke directly toward the prey, presumably a vole.
The only vertical composition in the series.
She’s on a mission. I like her intensity.
During the entire series she never took her eye off the vole.
More twigs to negotiate. Now her flight path could…
become slightly steeper.
This is the last completely clear shot I got of her before some of the out-of-focus vegetation we see at lower left began to block our view of her.
Here she’s so close to the ground there’s a very out-of-focus dark vertical plant stem in front of the end of her right wing. And the obstructions are about to get worse. Much worse.
Seven frames later she’s mostly disappeared in the vegetation. What we do see looks more like a ghostly apparition of her. I got multiple photos similar to this one. I was simply amazed that the Canon R5 could keep her mostly in focus through all of that vegetation.
Eventually I couldn’t see her at all. I waited a while for her to take off again but when she didn’t, I put my lens down and began to move my pickup to a spot where I thought I might have a slightly better light angle on her if she did take off. With prey or not.
When I looked up again I spotted her in flight far away. I could tell from other photos that she didn’t have prey. After I took this shot, she flew even further away where I could see her cavorting in the air with another Short-eared Owl. Presumably they’re a mated pair.
Babies later this spring, I hope.
Ron
As usual, I’m a day late and dollar short to the party. What a fantastic series, Ron! Love the way she threads the needle through those twigs and really love the way the light shines through her primaries. Hope she and her presumed mate have lots of baby Shorties!
Great episode. Thanks.
Amazing how her face doesn’t change! What a fabulous series!
Definitely earns you a choco donut/cold milk as a reward.
Carolyn, that’s what I have for breakfast in the field whether I earn them or not!
I really love these photos!! The back light is extremely effective. Each one is as good as the other!!
Thank you, Joanne.
The choreography of this series (including the ghost shot) blows me away. I am going to go back and delight in it again as soon as I have hit publish. Thank you.
EC, I hope you enjoy it the second time as much as the first. Thanks very much.
You worked hard for these Ron. Great job to stay with her all the way as you and R5 did. I doubt that I could even come close to that. Years of experience paid off.
We do not have short-eared Owls here, but wish we did. Great-horned are by far our most visible owls.
Much appreciated, Everett. Especially coming from another bird photographer.
Super series!
Thanks, Charlotte.
Thank you for posting the series including tje ghost shot. Very exciting to see the ‘play by play.’ BTW – your posts are NEVER overkill.
“your posts are NEVER overkill.”
I hope that’s true, Kathleen. But “never” covers a lot of territory…
NIIIICE! Every single one of them. Owl lover, here.
Thank you, Connie. Aren’t we all…
Great photos. I have photographed Short-ears and they are indeed hard to capture on lift-off — you did well!
Thanks, Kent. I’ve had quite a bit of practice with Shorties but they’re still hard to get early at takeoff.
WOW! Wonderful series, Ron!
The “ghost” is great and incredible the camera was able to keep on her…… Their wing span never fails to impress me.
I haven’t seen any in several years but then we aren’t “in the field” up top that they seemed to favor for hunting.
Thanks, Judy. I almost didn’t include “the ghost”. I’m glad I did.
Great sequence, Ron, showing the owl’s and your camera’s focus.
You captured the takeoff from the perch nicely, which takes patience and persistence.
(I finally spent the money and moved from my Canon DSLR cameras to a Canon R5 mII.)
These cameras are excellent. Since the R5 mI does not have pre-capture, I am even more impressed with your “take-off” shots.
Thanks very much, Ed.
I hope you continue to enjoy the Mark II. Yes, without pre-capture I spend a lot of time tensely on pins and needles, waiting for takeoff. Thankfully, even at my age, as far as I can tell my reflexes haven’t slowed down. Yet…
A magnificent series of shots of the most beautiful species of owls,
in my opinion! Even though the backlighting was a challenge for you to deal with, it lends such contrast and drama to every frame. I especially liked #11– the clump of twigs to the lower right
give context and drama to the curves of her powerful, upraised wings and those high-beam, locked-on eyes– you’ve made MY morning !
“you’ve made MY morning !”
Very good to know, Kris. Because of the challenges in processing these photos, this post was a lot of work. Your comment made me believe it was worth it.
Breakfast is always better with a Shortie! For some reason this made me think of a basketball player – dribbling through traffic on the court but never taking eyes off the net. Really impressed by the focus!
“Breakfast is always better with a Shortie!”
I couldn’t agree more, Diane. Right after I took these photos, I enjoyed my traditional field breakfast – a chocolate donut with iced milk to wash it down.
Great sequence! Nice to follow and get a sense of the flight maneuvering. Never too many photos for my taste.
Good. Thank you, Brett.
You can’t get those with the auto film winder! Well done.
You sure can’t. Thanks, Bruce.