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<\/p>\nA very cooperative Short-eared Owl and the quickly changing colors of light at sunrise.<\/p>\n
Three days ago I arrived at my distant shooting location before sunrise and immediately found a very calm and cooperative Short-eared Owl on a fence post next to the road. It was dark enough that I didn’t even see the owl until I had passed it by a few feet so I had to back up to get a little further away from the bird and give me a good light angle when the sun eventually came up. As I was backing I was so close to the owl I fully expected ‘him’ to flush so I was delighted when he stood his ground.<\/p>\n
I had distant mountains in the background so of course the light hit them before it did the owl. At sunrise the result was a light show of quickly changing colors in the background that were interesting, even if they weren’t always appealing.<\/p>\n
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1\/500, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n 6:30 AM: I’m not a ‘pink’ kinda guy but that’s pretty close to what I got when the light first hit the mountains in the backgound and the owl was still in shade. If that’s not enough pink for you…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n here’s a horizontal crop of the same image to provide an overdose.<\/p>\n There are two colors that have always grated on my nerves a little, pink and purple, so I’m having a bit of a hard time with these background colors. But when I get an owl this close, and with this much detail, I can put up with just about anything.<\/p>\n As the sun continued to rise, the purplish pinks became more subdued and slowly morphed into other colors. Whether they’re an improvement or not depends on individual preferences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n 6:36 AM: Six minutes later, after I’d backed up even further and changed my camera settings in case the owl took off, the mountains transformed into a shade of orange. Depending on tastes that may or may not be an improvement but at least it’s variety.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n 6:38 AM: A full nine minutes after I took my first photo of the owl, actual sunlight began to hit the bird and the mountains in the background began to change into colors that I personally find more appealing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n 6:40 AM: Two minutes later I finally had full sunlight on the owl and the background colors were nearly where I wanted them, but wouldn’t you know it – this is the last shot I got before the owl took off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the nearly twelve minutes I spent with this owl I took 340 photos of him and got a kaleidoscope of background colors that I find interesting if not always appealing. I found two more Short-eared Owls that morning, one of them a youngster, but neither one gave me the opportunities this one did so I’m grateful to him for tolerating me for so long.<\/p>\n If you ask me, any time spent with a Short-eared Owl is time very well spent.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A very cooperative Short-eared Owl and the quickly changing colors of light at sunrise. (5 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/short-eared-owl-4302-horizontal-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-4302-horizontal-ron-dudley\\"")
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