Tag: great horned owl

Great Horned Owls In The Montana Wind

I’ve posted before about the Great Horned Owls on the family farm in nw Montana.  That farm is near Cut Bank, Montana which is famous (infamous) for its howling winds.    1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in So many of my images of those farm owls show the effects of the wind on the owls.  The wind was only moderate when I took this shot so about the only effect you can see from it is the leaning ear tufts (horns).   Even at this wind speed you can hear it whistling through the granary cutouts where these birds like to perch  When I’m shooting from a tripod instead of from my pickup it’s difficult to get sharp shots because of the effects of the wind on my long lens.      1/160, f/10, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But when the wind really howls the birds seek refuge.  This owl liked to hunker down deep in this Poplar tree as an escape.  It was so deeply buried in the tree that I could only get fleeting glimpses of it when the wind would blow some of the branches and leaves in front of the bird to the side.  At times the wind would blow the ear tufts almost flat on its head.  This owl is leaning into the wind to keep from being blown off the perch.      1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4…

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Great Horned Owls On The Montana Family Farm

Note: When I first started blogging 19 months ago, I somewhat arbitrarily decided to post my photos at 720 pixels on the long side.  It didn’t take me long to change my mind and begin posting significantly larger images for the much better quality that becomes apparent at that larger size.  Since that time I’ve pretty much ignored those early posts, until yesterday when Ingrid Taylar brought my attention to this Great Horned Owl post and it reminded me just how small the images are.  So, I’ve decided to repost a very few of those very early works, with some additions and changes which will include: larger images – 900 pixels on the long side additional images, in most cases techs included with the photos updated narrative I’m thinking there might be two or three of these reposts over the next several weeks.  I hope you’ll bear with me…   For many years now there has been at least one pair of nesting Great Horned Owls on the farm where I grew up near Cut Bank, Montana.  They were never there when I was a kid but they’ve sure taken to it since.   This farm still seems like home to me and I return to it at least once every year for a visit with family and of course to check up on the owls.  It’s the perfect place for these birds as it’s isolated, there are many old barns and granaries for the owls to find sanctuary and the area is literally crawling with field mice, voles and the ubiquitous Richardson’s Ground Squirrel…

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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

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Great Horned Owl Fledglings On The Farm

This morning I met some of my relatives out on Antelope Island and in our conversation the subject of the Great Horned Owls on our family farm in nw Montana (by Glacier NP) came up.  I haven’t visited the farm yet this summer and our conversation reminded me of how much I miss the place (and the owls).  So I decided to do a post of some images I’ve taken in the past of fledgling GHO’s on the farm.  I’ve posted some photos of a couple of these birds in the past but they were different images. The owls have been resident on the farm for many years now and everyone up there loves them and watches out for them.  When the youngsters fledge you just never know where they will turn up in the early mornings and evenings.  They do a lot of exploring around the old barns, granaries and farm equipment.   1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Sometimes the setting I find them in is both rustic and cluttered with old metal and farm machinery.      1/800, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Other times they perch in the openings of old barns and  granaries which usually gives me a black background which I like.  When there’s no direct sunlight on the wood the color tones are cool. The staple diet of these owls is Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (we’ve always just called them”gophers”).   Here you can see fresh gopher blood dripping down the wood from the last meal of one of the owls.  …

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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 

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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…

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Early Spring Birds and Craziness on Antelope Island

 Typically our first spring camping trip is a shake-down cruise for the trailer to Antelope Island.  If anything goes wrong with the trailer (and it sometimes does after sitting all winter) I’ll be relatively close to home.  This year we spent the last two days of March on the island.  Most of the photos in this post were taken on that trip.   1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500  There’s been a few Western Meadowlarks on the island for much of the winter but they’ve returned in large numbers now.  In all my travels in the west I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other area with such a high concentration of this species.   At times their beautiful song resonates all over the hills of the island.  Meadowlarks always bring back fond memories for me of growing up on the Montana farm.      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500 Loggerhead Shrikes are another very common species, especially on the northern part of the island.   They’ve been absent all winter but we’re seeing more of them on each visit now.   It was cloudy when this image was taken and I didn’t get a lot of light in the eye but I think there’s just enough.      1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 I always look forward to the return of the Long-billed Curlews with great anticipation and they started appearing about 10 days ago.  I was happy to get this shot of the male on the right displaying for the female.  Male and female curlews are almost identical but they can be differentiated by their…

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Great Horned Owl Fledglings and Juveniles

Great Horned Owls (hereafter referred to as GHO’s in this post) have been resident on the Dudley farm in NW Montana for years and are usually successful in raising one brood of youngsters.  Typically they’ll nest in one of the several old granaries available to them.     Peekaboo youngster Most of these older granaries have seen their better days since many were constructed  in the 1930’s and have had to withstand the fierce Montana wind but the owls love them for both roosting and nesting.  Here you can see a very young GHO peering out at me over the back of its sibling.       Siblings on granary floor These are the siblings on the granary floor.  It has been used only for junk storage for many years so it’s very cluttered but the owls don’t seem to mind in the least.   Chicks in tree nest GHO’s will often nest in trees but like other owls and falcons they do not build their own nests, preferring to take over the previously used nests of other species such as Red-tailed Hawks (most commonly), other hawks, crows, ravens and herons.  I found this nest next to a major road about 35 miles from the farm.   I don’t know what species originally constructed this nest but the spring after these photos were taken the nest was being used by a pair of Swainson’s Hawks.  Interspecific  recycling in the bird world…      Three GHO chicks in a tree This is the same nest as in the previous image.  As you can see the…

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Great Horned Owls on the Farm

For perhaps twenty years now there has been at least one pair of nesting Great Horned Owls on the farm where I grew up near Cut Bank, Montana.  They were never there when I was a kid but they’ve sure taken to it since.   This farm still seems like home to me and I return to it at least once every year for a visit with family and of course to check up on the owls.  It’s the perfect place for these birds as it’s isolated, there are many old barns and granaries for the owls to find sanctuary and mice, voles and the ubiquitous Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (gophers) are everywhere.  Both the owls and I love the place! Great Horned Owl in a barn cutout Most often I prefer my birds on natural perches but there’s just something about owls and old barn wood that appeals to me.  I think owls, particularly Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls, often just seem to “fit” in many rustic settings.  In the image above, I like the warm tones of the bird contrasting with the cooler tones of the black background and some of the wood.  Juvenile (no “horns” yet) in warm, early morning light The youngster above was sitting in an east facing cutout in an old granary just as the sun came up.  The effect of the warm light on both bird and wood is fairly dramatic (no saturation added).  This juvenile is wet from the dew, thus the “spikiness” on the top of the head.  They look very different from the…

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