Delivering Food For A Family Of Short-eared Owls
I try not to play favorites when it comes to bird subjects for my photography but Short-eared Owls would have to be near the top of any such list I might make. I’ve had some luck with them here in Utah but my favorite area to photograph them is in southwest Montana. This series is from the summer of 2010 in Beaverhead County. I spent several days watching and photographing a male owl hunt voles and then bring them in for his family (female and two chicks) at the nest at the base of a sagebrush. I thought it might be interesting for some to see a full series of shots (of those I kept) as the male approached the nest with a vole. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window, natural light Like me, this male was a creature of habit. I would watch him hunting far off in the distance and when he was successful he would always repeat the same pattern. He would bring the vole in to the vicinity of the nest and then land on one of two favorite perches for a short time before delivering the vole to his family. This small sagebrush was one of those favorite perches – the other was a metal post. Here, he is in the process of landing and you can see the dark vole in his left foot. He always carried the vole to the perch in his left foot (as I’ve documented here) and always transferred…
Swainson’s Hawks In Different Types Of Light
It goes without saying that light angle, intensity and warmth can have huge effects on an image, both positive and negative. I thought it might be interesting to see the effects of different types of light on the same species – in this case, Swainson’s Hawks. 1/160, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here, the sun was low and the light warm. The light was directional (side lighting the bird) but it worked pretty well because the darker parts of the bird are in the direct light. The head angle is just right for this pose – if the head were angled any more toward me I’d have lost the catch light and light on the face. If it were turned any more away from me I’d have lost good eye contact. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Like in the previous image, this hawk is side lit. The difference is that the bird has its light, creamy colored belly facing the sun so the whites, though they’re not blown out, are a tad too bright and lacking detail. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I took this image a little later in the morning, so the light wasn’t so warm and at that angle enough of it is reflecting up from the ground to give me sufficient detail in the shaded, dark brown plumage…
A Good Look At The Feather Patterns Of A Prairie Falcon
Last month, this Prairie Falcon let me get very close to it on the causeway to Antelope Island. It was in early morning and the bird was in deep shade. It’s my impression that they feel less threatened in that kind of light and though it makes for very difficult photography, I’ll take the bird close in poor light, instead of a mile away in gorgeous light – any ol’ day of the week. 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Previously, I’ve posted a different image of this bird but that one didn’t have the textures provided by the raised feathers that we see here. 1/800, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When this bird decided it was time to leave it had a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. In this light and with this slow shutter speed I could never get the bird sharp as it took off but just before it launched, it spread its wings and held them there for a few seconds and it even glanced back enough for me to get some light in the eye. But what I like most about this image is the great look at the feather patterns on the left wing and back. Because of the spread wing and the lightly colored margins on each feather, those patterns are very clear and it is easy to delineate each plumage “group” – primaries, secondaries, primary coverts, greater coverts, median coverts, lesser coverts, alula, scapulars,…
Great Horned Owl On Antelope Island Causeway This Morning
Just a quick post to report what was an unusual event this morning, at least for me. This is simply a documentary post, as the photos are of mediocre quality. In the hundreds of mornings I’ve spent on the island, I’ve never seen a Great Horned Owl along the causeway. This one was perched on some rocks on the south side of the first bridge. But it flew a quarter-mile west before I got any shots off so I followed it and just as I was about to click the shutter it took off again and headed back to the same area by the first bridge… where it perched on another rock. After a few minutes… it took off once again… and headed almost straight for me. This is the last shot I got before it disappeared below the rabbitbrush along the side of the bridge. Many thanks to the generous couple who approached my vehicle as I was photographing a coyote on the other side of the bridge (where the light was at a much better angle) and told us about this owl. Without their kind notification we’d have never even known the bird was there. I’ve seen and photographed GHO’s multiple times on the island, in a variety of settings, but had never before seen one on the causeway. And it was even relatively late in the morning (10:30 AM) which surprised me further, since it was so much out in the open. Ron
The Banded Burrowing Owls Of Antelope Island
Populations of Burrowing Owls in North America are in sharp decline. They are an Endangered Species in Canada where only about 800 pairs remain as there has been a 73% drop in their numbers in that country over the last 30 years. They are a species of “special protection” in Mexico and they are “listed” in 9 of the 18 western states in the U.S. that they still occupy. The reason for this disastrous decline is not well understood, but “human activity” is strongly suspected. In order to get a better handle on what is happening to them, multiple banding studies are in progress and that includes Antelope Island. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, shot from pickup window, not baited, set up or called in I first noticed banded juvenile Burrowing Owls on the island this past summer. Out of about a dozen juveniles in one area, several of them were banded but it was difficult to get a precise number because they’re hard to tell apart when some are in their burrows and the rest are flying all over the area. Most of the photos I have of banded owls were taken in early morning light but this one was taken later in the day (as you can tell by the position of the catch light and the angle of the shadows on the eyes), so the light was brighter and harsher. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, shot from pickup window, not baited, set up…
Red-tailed Take Off From Farmington Canyon Complex Rocks
I’ve said before how much I prefer the very dark Farmington Canyon Complex rocks on Antelope Island as perches, over the bright white Tintic Quartzite rocks found on the northern part of the island. This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk made my morning last month when it chose just such a rock to hunt from. I always enjoy it when I can get multiple shots of some interesting behavior or action in sequence. To me it’s almost like a very slow motion video and though it may include a few images that aren’t perfect individually I think that collectively the photos gain value as a group for what they illustrate – the whole can be greater than its parts. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Photographing take-offs is always a challenge. The bird may just sit there for a half hour or longer but when it happens it’s quick and easy to miss. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window, natural light, not baited, set up or called in You also need to be concerned about what direction it will go and if you’re too close (it’s easy to clip wings if you are) or too far away (which shows less detail). Those with zoom lenses have an advantage over me because they can quickly adjust their focal length to whatever they want within their zoom range, while the only option I have is to attach or detach my teleconverter, which is cumbersome and takes time. …
Banking Barn Owl
I have just a single image for this Friday night post. This morning was my first frosty cold morning at Farmington Bay this season and it reminded me of all the very cold mornings I spent with Barn Owls out there a few years ago – an opportunity I haven’t had with the species since. Hopefully, it’ll happen again some year soon. 1/2500, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This owl was making a banking turn in front of me so I was able to get a good look at the topside of the bird from my ground level position – something that very few of my Barn Owl flight shots show. I was slightly further away from the bird than I prefer to be but I still thought the detail held up quite well. In order to anchor the bird in the frame and show habitat, I cropped this one to include as much of the frosty Phragmites at bottom as possible, Ron
Falconry – A Detriment To The Birds?
As some of you will remember, I’ve recently made two posts calling into question some of the ethics of the “sport” (some don’t like that term) of falconry. This was the bird that prompted my most recent post – an “escaped” female Peregrine Falcon that I photographed along the Antelope Island causeway a few weeks ago. You’ll notice that she still has her leather falconry anklets above her feet (only one can be seen in this photo). And last year, this escaped male American Kestrel was loose near Farmington Bay WMA and it still had not only its anklets but its jesses. The extreme danger to the bird of having those long, dangling jesses engangle and kill the kestrel is obvious. In both posts I questioned the ethics of falconry in general, but admitting my relative ignorance of the subject I asked (on the second post) for more information from my readers to “enlighten” me on the subject. For those who haven’t seen those posts and have the interest, here’s the links: Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon, Again Mark Runnels, a master falconer from Oklahoma, responded to the second post with a series of very detailed, knowledgeable and thoughtful comments on falconry – responding to each of my concerns dispassionately and eloquently. However, that post was made on September 17 and Mark didn’t begin to comment until October 23, which means that his valuable information likely went under the radar for most of my readers (very few folks come back to a…
Frosty Northern Harrier
This is a shot that I like, partly due to the somewhat unusual effects of the light and the resulting colors. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window, not baited, set up or called in It was taken on a very cold January morning (notice the frosty perch) just as the sun was coming up over the Wasatch mountains and the warm colors from the very low sun, combined with the light bouncing off all of the Phragmites in the area, gave the overall image a bit of a slightly unusual color that appeals to me (as usual, I made no color adjustments during processing). After my last post on composition it seems that I’m fretting about cropping options even more than I usually do. I often try several versions, make a decision, then use (or post) just the one I think I like best. But in this instance I just wasn’t sure, so I decided to post two versions. Typically, my gut instinct is to go for the tighter crop (the vertical in this case) because of the better detail on the bird, but I’m trying to expand my horizons a little and become more flexible with the options I consider. If you have a preference between these two images I’d love to hear about it, but please don’t think you need to choose one over the other if you decide to comment on the image. And this will be the last time (at least for a good long…
Compositional Mind Games
There are times when I really struggle with composition when I’m cropping an image. To a degree, composition is a matter of taste and personal preference, though most folks would agree on a few major principles. Some of those might be: avoid clipping body parts or cropping too tight on the subject the subject usually (though not always) should not be centered in the frame leave plenty of room in the frame in the direction the subject is facing, looking or flying (in the case of birds) Where I sometimes run into difficulty making a composition decision is when there are other compositional elements in the image that I might like to include in the final version of the photo. Thanks largely to the influence of Richard Ditch, I’ve become fond of strong graphic lines in some of my images, as long as those lines come from natural or rustic elements (power poles or wires just won’t cut it with me). This summer I photographed a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on an old, rustic pole fence in Beaverhead County, Montana and I’m having a very difficult time making cropping decisions on some of those images. My natural tendency is to crop fairly tightly on the bird to get good detail on the subject but I also like the graphic lines provided by the fence with different cropping choices. Several times I’ve thought I’d finally figured out which version I prefer, but when I came back to the computer a few hours later and looked at them one more time I was again undecided. Compositional mind…