Owls – Page 27 – Feathered Photography

Short-eared Owls In Flight

These three images are of a mated pair of Short-eared Owls taken two years ago at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the male delivering a vole to his family. As you can see from my techs I had to max out my settings (especially on the last two images) to try to get enough shutter speed for flight shots. Each of these photos was taken on different mornings but the light was consistently a challenge while we were there. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the elusive female. I got very few shots of her because she spent most of the time on the nest with her two chicks and I rarely saw her fly. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Another look at the male. There’s a good reason for the timing of this post – we’re at Red Rock right now (I prepared this post before leaving and post-dated publication) and anticipation of this trip had me thinking about these wonderful owls again. We’d have to be pretty lucky to find cooperative owls again but if not there should be plenty of other birds to work with. The biggest challenge on this trip is likely to be light. Red Rocks is right on the continental divide and early summer weather up there is volatile and often down-right scary – especially when you’re pulling a camping trailer over 30 miles of dirt roads! These trips are…

Barn Owl In Flight

Despite the simple gray background this is one of my favorite shots of a Barn Owl in flight. 1/2000, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Getting a catch light in a Barn Owl in flight is no easy task due to their reluctance to fly in good light and their deeply set eyes. This is one of my few shots where the early morning sun was low enough and its angle on the bird’s eye was just right to provide not only light in the eye but a good strong catch light. The presence or absence of a catch light can make or break an image and I’m very glad I got one here. Ron

Short-eared Owl Hunting From A Post

We were driving out of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge on our way home when we spotted this Short-eared Owl perched on a large double post at the top of a long, grinding hill. I was pulling the camping trailer so we made a lot of racket and raised a huge cloud of dust on the gravel road so I figured there was no chance this bird would let that big noisy rig close enough for decent shots. But it did – though just barely. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Here it was trying to decide if we were enough of a potential threat to fly off but soon it relaxed and seemed to accept our presence. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Almost immediately the owl began to scour the slope to the right for potential prey. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When it spotted something it took off… 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc gained speed as it descended down the relatively steep slope… 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc and this is the last decent shot I got as it got close to the grasses and I lost focus on the bird. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But the owl obviously liked that post as a hunting platform and almost immediately returned to it (though these last shots are from an earlier sequence). It very quickly spotted what was probably…

A Bevy Of Barn Owls

This past summer we found a wonderful family of Barn Owls on Antelope Island. Of course they preferred one of the ugliest perches on the planet but what a treat to be able to photograph such a handsome familial group – presented here in ascending numbers of birds. I’ll let the owls “speak” for themselves. 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4 1/125, f/8, ISO 640, 500 f/4 1/80, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4 1/20, f/13, ISO 500, 500 f/4 These birds hung out together until mid-summer and then most of them dispersed. I was delighted that the entire brood was raised successfully and hope the same thing happens this coming season. Ron

Short-eared Owl Delivering Food To The Nest

In previous posts (here, here and here) about these Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge I’ve shown and described snippets of the fascinating behaviors I observed when this male would deliver voles to the female and two youngsters at the nest. But it struck me that I’ve never put the whole process together in sequence so the behaviors could be fully appreciated so that’s what I’ll attempt to do here. Most of the images will be different from those in the previous posts. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The male was a tireless and highly skilled hunter and I never saw him with any prey other than voles. When successful he would always return to the vicinity of the nest and land momentarily on one of two favorite perches – the dark sagebrush at lower right in the above photo or a metal post a few feet from the sagebrush. Here he’s coming in for a landing on the sagebrush with vole in talons and glances up at me to make sure all is safe. I really like the intense direct eye contact in the shot. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Now he’s focused on the sagebrush in order to make a successful landing. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This time he stayed perched for less than five seconds and didn’t even pull his wings in against his body – he just kept them out or up while he seemed to contemplate his next…

Just A Shot That I Like… #19 – Burrowing Owl Catching Its Balance

Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island are often a hit or miss proposition. Occasionally one can find an accessible burrow occupied by multiple birds and get just close enough for quality images without disturbing the owls. But more often than not they’re difficult to find – especially in a location where the angle of light is good in the morning when I prefer to shoot. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This bird was one of a family of owls on the north end of the island that would occasionally sun themselves in the early morning at the top of a sagebrush perch. Here the owl had momentarily lost its balance while changing position on the branch and I was able to catch a pose I liked as it recovered. I love backgrounds like this that the island and the bokeh of my lens often provide. Ron

Just A Shot That I Like… #17 – Short-eared Owl In Flight With A Vole In Its Beak

This is another image from my time with the Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This male was kept very busy hunting voles and feeding his mate and youngsters at the nest. Typically I would see him hunting far off, dive for a vole, and if he was successful he’d occasionally eat the vole himself but most often he would return with it to a favorite perch in the vicinity of the nest – and without exception he would always carry the vole in his talons before he got to the perch (and always his left talon, but I covered that topic in another post). 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc However, just before (or just after) he took off from the perch to deliver the meal to his family he would always transfer the vole from his talons to his beak. I have a theory as to why he did so. The nest was on the ground at the base of a sagebrush. Whenever the male landed at the entrance to the nest with the vole the female would rush out and very aggressively grab the vole. And I DO mean aggressively! If I’d been him I’d have been afraid to get that close to her with food. So the male would approach the nest very gingerly with the vole in his beak and drop it in front of him and quickly retreat as she rushed out. I suspect it was easier for him to avoid a confrontation with her if he could quickly drop…

Just A Shot That I Like… #6 – Short-eared Owl In Flight With Prey

Sometimes conditions are marginal at best for avian photography and that often seems to be the case for me when I’m presented with an otherwise wonderful opportunity. Then the decision must be made – go ahead and shoot anyway, knowing it’s likely that I won’t get any keepers or just pack it in and watch and enjoy the birds? 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, noise reduction to background Such was the case with this Short-eared Owl at Montana’s rugged and remote Centennial Valley. It was an overcast day and there generally wasn’t enough light for photographing birds in flight but this male was regularly delivering voles to his family and would occasionally fly right by me as he did so. I could have removed my teleconverter to get a little more shutter speed but then the owl would be quite small in the frame so I just decided to fire away and hope for the best. Even at ISO 800 (the absolute limit for my 7D without getting too much noise) I was often getting shutter speeds of 1/500 or slower at f/5.6 – just not fast enough to get birds in flight sharp. I got lucky with this shot. As the owl was coming in, the clouds behind me opened up slightly to allow a little more light on the bird and a shutter speed of 1/640 – just enough to get good sharpness on a relatively large and slow flying bird if your focus is well locked on to the subject. The still shaded Centennial Mountains provided…

Just A Shot That I Like… #5 – Great Horned Owl In Tamarisk

We recently found a Great Horned Owl that likes to hang out in some tamarisk close to the Great Salt Lake. Usually the owl is deeply buried in the foliage and can’t even be seen unless you know where to look but of course getting clear shots of the bird is impossible in that situation. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc However on cold early mornings this bird likes to get a little warming sun and has found one spot where it’s open enough that it can soak in some rays and still feel safe and hidden by the enclosing tamarisk. By careful maneuvering I can get a relatively clear view of the owl from a close vantage point (without disturbing it). It’s a busy setting for the bird but I like that the spot it has chosen to warm up in is so dense with leaves that they almost seem to wrap protectively around the owl. We’ve had several opportunities with this bird in exactly the same spot over the last couple of weeks. At least we thought it was a single bird but then yesterday sharp-eyed Mia noticed (while editing and culling images) that the plumages don’t match from day-to-day. There are two owls that use this spot and we have photos of both of them. A pleasant surprise! Ron

Barn Owls and Phragmites

Barn Owls are among my favorite avian subjects. They’re uncommon, elusive and rarely active in daytime so they’re devilishly difficult to photograph in good light – especially in flight. And they’re unique – so different from other owl species (heart-shaped facial disc, smaller eyes, a short squared tail and serrated central claws) that they’re given their own family classification – Tytonidae. They’re the most wide-spread species of owl on earth, though their numbers are declining. Occasionally, very occasionally, I’ve had the opportunity to photograph them in daylight. Around here they can sometimes be found hunting for voles at the edge of Phragmites stands at the local marshes during the early mornings of the coldest days of winter. Phragmites is a very large perennial grass found in our wetlands that causes many problems for wetlands managers because it produces substances that are toxic to more beneficial species of marsh plants. 1/2000, f/8, ISO 400 1.4 tc As problematic as Phragmites can be I’ve found it to be a wonderful background for photographs of birds in flight. And since these owls fly during daytime only when it’s very cold the Phragmites is often covered with heavy frost in the mornings which can soften the background and make it very pleasing to the eye. If the grasses are close to the bird they appear fairly well-defined. 1/2000, f/8, ISO 400 1.4 tc But if they’re far away the bokeh of the background is softened even more, giving relatively subtle hints of texture and form. I think the sharper foreground phrags in this photo…

Burrowing Owls of Antelope Island

I simply adore watching and photographing Burrowing Owls. They show more personality and cute little quirks than any other avian species I’ve photographed – especially the juveniles. There are usually three problems with shooting these birds though – finding them in the first place, getting close enough to them for high quality photographs without disturbing their normal activities or making them nervous and catching them out in the open or on an elevated perch so that the vegetation that usually surrounds their burrows doesn’t obscure the birds. Two summers ago a family of these owls had their burrow right along the road on the Antelope Island causeway. They were obviously very accepting of all the traffic so getting close without disturbing them was no problem – I’d just pull up on the road edge close to their burrow and stay in my pickup to photograph them. I photographed them for almost two weeks and I’ve kept a ridiculous number of those images- just can’t make myself delete many of them. The family consisted of both parents and four juveniles. I spent most of my time photographing the juvies – they’re just so vivacious, spunky and full of life that they make wonderful subjects. The problem at this burrow site was two-fold – lots of obscuring vegetation and then when they did perch up higher it was usually on some unattractive pieces of broken concrete adjacent to the burrow. 1/1250, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Occasionally one of the juveniles would be perched on this rock when we…

Birds, Lamentations And Musings From My Recent Trip To Western Montana

Recently Mia and I spent just over a week in western Montana on another camping/photo excursion. It was a trip packed with wonderful birds, breathtaking scenery, colorful characters and almost too much drama for me. We spent two days at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, then four days on the western Montana farm near the Canadian border where I grew up and then spent one night at Red Rocks again on the way home. In this post I’ll include a sampling of photos from the trip in the rough order they were taken. Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, EV +1.00, 800 f/4, 1.4 tc This Long-billed Dowitcher photo was taken at a pond on the refuge that often has many birds of good variety but it’s difficult to get good light at this location. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 800, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This Least Sandpiper gave me a similar pose as in the previous shot but I liked the head turn and lighting better (even though it made the whites a challenge to expose properly). Canon 40D @22mm, 1/60, f/14, ISO 500, EV +0.33 Mornings at Red Rocks are often spectacular. Here the sun is just beginning to rise on a layer of ground fog with another layer of low clouds just above the fog. Roads similar to and much worse than this one were the source of the drama I referred to earlier. On this trip we had a total of four flat tires, most…

Raptors Mobbing Raptors

Mobbing is an antipredator behavior where animals mob a predator by cooperatively attacking or harassing it. This behavior is especially common in birds during nesting and rearing of young. Typically, it will be a flock of passerines like Red-winged Blackbirds mobbing a raptor or perhaps a magpie or any other bird they consider to be a threat to their nest or young. In mid-June of this year while Mia and I were on another one of our camping/photo forays to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge we witnessed a somewhat unusual display of mobbing – raptors mobbing raptors. We had just returned to our camping trailer when Mia noticed this sub-adult Bald Eagle resting on a muskrat mound almost a quarter-mile away across Lower Red Rock Lake – too far away for quality photos (we had marginal light too) but we simply can’t resist training our lenses on a situation like this just to see if something interesting might happen. And this time it did. Canon 7D, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 500 ev +1.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The eagle seemed to be minding its own business and just hanging out for a while on the mound. Canon 7D, 1/640, f/6.3, ISO 500 ev +1.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But soon a Short-eared Owl (a male I believe) appeared on the scene and he was not happy with the presence of the eagle. My presumption is that the owl had a nest in the area and it felt the eagle threatened the nest or young. Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 800 ev +1.00,…

Antelope Island Barn Owl Family

There’ll be just a single image in today’s post – the majority of a large family of Barn Owls that are resident on Antelope Island this summer. Canon 7D, 1/80, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -1.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I have a special fondness for this species but like most avian photographers I’ve been frustrated by them because their almost strictly nocturnal habits make them extremely difficult to photograph (unless you use flash or some other form of artificial light, which I won’t do). Occasionally I’ve been able to find one out and about during daytime in winter but that’s a relatively rare occurrence. This is four of a family group of five or six that hang out on the north end of the island. They are such striking and beautiful birds (in my opinion) that I find it a bit incongruous that they insist on roosting in the mornings on this decidedly unattractive perch. But hey, if they like it – so do I. Well, sort of… Since this post consists of only one image I decided to make it 1200 pixels wide instead of my usual 900. Personally I always enjoy larger versions of images for their better detail. Ron

Short-eared Owls Defending Their Nest Against Predators

Recent reports from others indicate that bird activity on Antelope Island is slowing down now and our experience out there recently would agree with that assessment so yesterday when Mia and I were trying to decide where to go shooting birds we were a little hesitant about another trip to the island. But even with things slowing down we almost never fail to find something interesting to photograph and yesterday was certainly no exception! Canon 7D, 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV 0, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Soon after arriving on the island we noticed a pair of Short-eared Owls, obviously mated based on their behavior. Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV 0, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This owl was carrying a vole and we immediately suspected that the pair had a nest in the vicinity, which turned out to be true. It was quite a distance from the road and buried in vegetation but we could tell its location by watching this owl deliver food to the nest site – either to the mate or to both the mate and chicks. We watched and photographed the birds for a while but when things slowed down we went further down the island. Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc On our return to the area of the nest we immediately saw a quickly developing drama. A young coyote had apparently just crossed the road and was approaching the nest area and the owls were in…

Category: Owls