Burrowing Owl – Page 7 – Feathered Photography

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…

Some More Burrowing Owls

I simply can’t resist photographing Burrowing Owls. 1/100, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These youngsters often have a balance problem when they try to perch on the relatively unstable sunflowers, which can be a good opportunity for the photographer to get some interesting poses. One of the problems here was that the sun was just coming up and the light was very low as you can see from my very slow shutter speed. Even though this bird fluttered on the perch for quite a while I ended up trashing most of those shots because they just weren’t sharp enough. But the other problem just about drove me batty for a while. For some reason my Canon 7D wouldn’t allow me to adjust my exposure (ev). How very frustrating to have this bird giving me such nice poses while I’m thinking the entire time that I’m over-exposing the shots and can’t do anything about it! It turned out that my exposure for these shots was just right (I’ve done no exposure adjustment in post-processing with this image) but it took me (us) a half hour to figure out what the problem was with my camera. Mia saved the day by downloading the 7D manual to her phone and in the end the problem turned out to be that I had inadvertently switched on the “lock” button on my camera. Sheesh! 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, 100-400 @ 300mm I thought some of you might like to “meet” most of the Burrowing Owl family I’ve been photographing this summer. From left to right #3 and #5…

Juvenile Burrowing Owl In Flight

This morning was the first time we’ve been out photographing since our Montana trip. I’ll post more images from Big Sky Country soon but I thought I’d break it up a bit with a couple of photos from this morning. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The juvenile Burrowing Owls were quite active at just the right time – when the sun was still low but high enough to give me enough light and shutter speed that I didn’t have to crank up my ISO too far. I haven’t had a lot of luck with Burrowing Owls in full flight so I was quite pleased with this shot even though I had to add a bit of canvas to the image for composition. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These youngsters are beginning to show some signs of maturing by the development of more color on the breast. As you can see, this is one of the young birds that has been banded.It’s very entertaining to watch these juveniles. In the morning before it gets too hot they often fly from perch to nearby perch and when they’re on the ground they seem to enjoy manipulating objects like twigs and leaves and nibbling on flowers. They interact with each other with the enthusiasm of youth. The problem for the photographer is that when they’re on the ground it’s virtually impossible to get a clear shot of them through all the vegetation. I really enjoy these little guys. Ron

Juvenile Burrowing Owl – Wing Exercises

I simply can’t resist posting a couple of more images of juvenile Burrowing Owls that were taken last week. 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc It may look like this bird has lost its balance on the sage and is trying to regain it but I believe it was simply exercising its wings. It flapped and fluttered for quite a while – long enough for me to get several dozen images of the action (I saved 18 of them). 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I do wish there’d been a bit more light though. The sun ducked behind a cloud just as just as this youngster started flapping. Should’a heard Mia cussing that cloud! As per usual, I kept my cool and just went with the flow. 🙂 Actually, we’ve both been known to cuss clouds on occasion but I’m much better at it than she is. She just doesn’t have my enthusiasm. Or originality… Ron

Landing Juvenile Burrowing Owl

We had some more fun with the family of Burrowing Owls this morning. There are two adults and at least seven chicks. Some of the youngsters have been banded, which may be good for the owls but it isn’t particularly good for photography so I was happy to see that this one wasn’t wearing any jewelry. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 One of the adult birds spent much of the morning perched on sagebrush to the left of this one and occasionally one of the youngsters would come in and land close by. I was pleasantly surprised by the eye contact in this image. Usually they’re looking down at this point in the landing process but I think a slight headwind gave this bird time enough to glance up at my pickup just to make sure we continued to be no threat. In the very next frame the owl was beginning to look down at its landing spot on the sage. I love the very early morning light on these owls but especially on the juveniles. The tradeoff is that ISO 640 is pushing it for my Canon 7D but I always like to have good shutter speed when an opportunity like this suddenly appears. I had taken off my tc but still barely fit the owl in the frame. The upper background is a distant sandbar and sloping shoreline of the Great Salt Lake. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 I was able to get five sharp shots as this owl was coming in. My favorite of the sequence is the first image…

A Plea For Respect For The Burrowing Owl

If there’s a group of birds on the face of the earth that is almost universally loved it seems to me that it would have to be owls. Many folks are captivated by them for their large forward-facing eyes, quizzical expressions, eerie vocalizations and the sense of mystery provided by their generally nocturnal habits. Others appreciate their many unique adaptations, such as silent flight and their ability to turn their heads 270 degrees. There’s just something about owls… 1/640, f/9, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And for many of us Burrowing Owls are at the pinnacle of that adoration. Their comical antics, especially those of the juveniles, tug at our heartstrings and make us smile. And they’re more accessible to viewing than are most owls because they’re active during daylight and spend much of their time on the ground close to their burrows instead of being hidden high up in trees. The flip-side to all this is that Burrowing Owls are extremely vulnerable to unthinking human intrusion – especially while they’re nesting and caring for chicks or juveniles. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In Utah the burrows of these owls are typically found among sagebrush, which they often use as perches during early morning. This allows the patient and ethical birder or photographer a good look at the birds without having to get too close in order to see through the vegetation usually found in the burrow area. It’s not unusual for Burrowing Owls to nest close to roads and when they do…

Some Recent Shots I Like, Despite Some Flaws

Like every other bird photographer many of the photos I take are not worth keeping. For the first few years I was shooting birds I estimated that I deleted 90% of my images. Now that I’ve become a little more discriminating that number is probably closer to 95%. Birds are incredibly difficult subjects – they’re fast, unpredictable, difficult to approach and generally uncooperative. When I’m culling images after a day in the field most shots fall under two main categories – keepers and garbage. But there’s often a few that are technically lacking for one reason or another but have some unusual or especially interesting feature that makes it difficult for me to trash them. So I don’t. Occasionally I go back through them just for the fun of it. I enjoy them and thought some of you might too so here’s a few from the past month or so. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This one’s from yesterday – a Lark Sparrow that posed and groomed for us for quite a while. Looking through the viewfinder I had no idea there was a second Lark Sparrow in the vicinity and didn’t even notice it flying through the frame until I got home and looked at it on my computer. Mia said that she’d noticed the second bird and that it chased the first bird away when it flew. Anyway, I thought the out-of-focus sparrow to the left was an interesting serendipity. I just wish the two twigs by the head weren’t there. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4…

An Itchy, Fidgety Burrowing Owl On A Wiggly Perch

It all started with an itch. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Two days ago just as the sun was coming up over the Wasatch we found this adult Burrowing Owl perched on a dried sunflower. The lower background is the Great Salt Lake. The bird was sunning itself and pretty static and I was hoping for some kind of action. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Then it tried to scratch its face while perched on this spindly and unstable perch and that’s when the action began. (Full disclosure – this shot is a little out-of-order but it shows the scratching behavior better than any I got at the very beginning – it tried to scratch the same spot on its face several times during this sequence). 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Every time the owl tried to scratch its face the sunflower stem would move around and throw the bird off-balance so the wings would go out and I got some interesting poses in nice light. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I was able to get many images of the balancing act as it progressed but the owl was sidelit so in quite a few of them one or both of the wings and one side of the face were in shadow. These are the images with the best pose and light combinations that I was able to get. The secondary wing feathers seem to be still growing in from a recent molt. …

Burrowing Owl Against A Clean Background

A few days ago we found this adult Burrowing Owl in early morning light and perched high on some rabbitbrush with the Great Salt Lake as background. After I got the pickup stopped it only gave me a second or two of posing before it flew off. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Most of my images of this species show the bird on the ground with a cluttered setting so I like the cleanness of this image. I also enjoy the fact that with the sun so low both eyes are well-lit even at the top of the corneas where there’s usually some shadow from the brows. If I’d had more time I’d have adjusted my settings to get more depth of field for the tail but sometimes, just occasionally :-), birds don’t cooperate with my best intentions… Ron

Sagebrush Perches

For me there’s just something wonderful about sagebrush. In fact, lots of things. When sagebrush is wet its smell is almost intoxicating (at least it is for me). When walking through it that scent comes wafting up and my mind can’t help but wander through old memories and cowboy songs. I love the silvery-gray-green color it lends to a hillside. The presence of sagebrush is essential for many species for nesting, habitat, protection or food. Sage Sparrows, Sage Thrashers and Loggerhead Shrikes nest within the plant and larks, Burrowing Owls and Long-billed Curlews nest on the ground in stands of sagebrush. Sagebrush dominates the diet of the Sage Grouse during late fall, winter and early spring. It also makes for an interesting perch for bird photography even though its growth patterns often put obstructions in front of the bird. Since sage is the dominant plant of the Great Basin in many areas I have regular opportunities to photograph birds perched on it. The various species (Big Sage and Black Sage for example) provide variety in color and leaf shape and sometimes you catch the bird on bare twigs or branches or layers of snow/ice on top of the plant. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I photographed this Lark Sparrow on sage yesterday – as you can see, the leaf colors are a soft silvery green in early spring. 1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And this Loggerhead Shrike is from this morning, with the Great Salt Lake (not sky) in the background. I thought I’d…

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

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…

Burrowing Owls – Clowns of the Bird World

Of the many bird species I’ve photographed, Burrowing Owls by far show the most “personality”. Their repertoire of silly antics, funny poses, stretches, yawns and grooming behaviors are a photographers dream. And once they feel comfortable in your presence they will often allow you to photograph them for a very long time without flying off or retreating to their burrow. But you have to find them first… The antics of juveniles are even more exaggerated than those of adults. Most of the images I will present here are of juveniles. Some of the shots were taken in less than ideal conditions (harsh light, shadows, clutter) but I think they illustrate the goofball personalities of these birds well. Giving the photographer a suspicious look It’s difficult to resist being anthropomorphic (ascribing human emotion or motivation to non-human species) when it comes to Burrowing Owls so I won’t even try. This juvenile looks very suspicious of me but in reality I suspect that it was only curious. Wing-stretch with lifted foot, or “They went that-a-way!” Topsy turvy owl Juveniles practice their parallax skills regularly. It involves bobbing and twisting their heads so their eyes can view an object (in this case me) from different positions. This allows them to better determine distance to that object. I’m sure it’s serious business for the owls but to us it can sure look silly. And adorable. Reaction to sudden and unexpected rain One sunny and hot August morning I was photographing a pair of juveniles when a single cloud passed overhead and…

Photographing Birds on Antelope Island

My previous post was an overview of the geology of Antelope Island and its non-bird wildlife. Here, I’ll focus on its birds. Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike begging for food Loggerhead Shrikes are common on many parts of the island during summer. They can be a challenge to approach but those few that nest close to the road eventually get used to traffic so if you photograph from your vehicle you can often get quite close. Here this juvenile was begging for food that was being delivered by a parent just out of frame to the left. Loggerhead Shrike with dragonfly Shrikes are often called “butcher birds” for their practice of temporarily impaling their prey on thorns or other sharp projections. This juvenile had done just that with the dragonfly but it wasn’t very good at it yet and in the end just decided to eat it instead of store it away. Loggerhead Shrike with spider Shrikes are opportunistic carnivores known to feed on insects, spiders, amphibians, small reptiles, rodents and other birds. This one also attempted to impale the prey before eating it. Juvenile Burrowing Owl practicing its parallax technique on me Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite species on the island though they can be difficult to locate from year to year as they often don’t seem to nest in the same burrow the next year. In the summer of 2009 there was an entire family of owls along the causeway to the island nesting under concrete rubble, as in the…

A Bitter Lesson in Depth of Field

I have spent many hours photographing Burrowing Owls over the past two summers but it’s a real challenge to get clear shots of them as they typically stay on the ground and are usually at least partially obscured by vegetation. For me it’s a real coup to get one on an elevated, natural perch in good light. Last week I had a wonderful opportunity with them and simply blew it. As we approached our “owl spot” we noticed that there were three of them perched up high on a sagebrush in beautiful early morning light. I maneuvered my pickup for the best light angle I could get and to obtain separation of the owls from each other. Everything perfect. And all three birds gave us a variety of interesting poses for several minutes. I had noticed that the owl on the left was perhaps a foot (or slightly less) closer to us than the other two birds so I was concerned about depth of field. I seldom shoot multiple subjects and typically with only one bird I’m shooting at f/6.1 – f/8 depending on the situation. Knowing I needed more DOF here I dialed in f/13 thinking that would be plenty to get all three birds sharp. The image below is typical of the results I got. Burrowing Owl – Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/200, f/13, ISO 500, cropped to 77% of original image The owl on the left is noticeably soft. That is quite apparent at a larger image size, say 1200 pixels, though not quite so obvious at this…

Tag: Burrowing Owl