{"id":162786,"date":"2024-08-07T05:13:44","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T11:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=162786"},"modified":"2024-08-07T05:24:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T11:24:42","slug":"great-horned-owl-fledglings-on-nostalgic-montana-farm-perches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/07\/great-horned-owl-fledglings-on-nostalgic-montana-farm-perches\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Horned Owl Fledglings On Nostalgic Montana Farm Perches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Occasionally I rerun a favorite older post and for me, this one ranks very near the top. It was published in June of 2017 and the first photo is one many of you have seen several times before. I&#8217;m rerunning the post for two reasons:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><em>Even though you may have seen the first photo before, and since, the 2017 post was the first and only time I provided the family background related to the photo. Most newer blog followers still haven&#8217;t seen the photo and even many old timers don&#8217;t know its back story.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>More importantly, back in 2017 I added the second photo, taken by Jim Dudley, long after most readers had come and gone from that post. And they never came back to it, so to this day they haven&#8217;t seen the second photo &#8211; which I think is exceptional and wonderful.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>OK, here&#8217;s the post. For this version I&#8217;ve made multiple edits. Hopefully they&#8217;re improvements.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I feel more sentimental about the first image below than any other bird photo I&#8217;ve ever taken, hands down.<\/p>\n<p>Many readers know that for years I&#8217;ve returned often to the Montana farm where I was raised. The draws for me are extended family that still lives there, the memories (oh the memories!) and the Great Horned Owls that have occupied the old farm buildings for many years. In June their chicks fledge and in their explorations those curious youngsters can show up almost anywhere. So on most mornings I&#8217;d get up before dawn, which arrives insanely early in northern Montana that time of year, and look for them. Finding them is almost never easy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"49211\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/20\/a-motorcycle-riding-great-horned-owl-fledgling\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 40D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1244176528&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.033333333333333&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"great horned owl 1850b ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49211 size-full\" title=\"great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>1\/30, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS\u00a0USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the predawn near-darkness on June 9, 2009 I found this one perched on an old, junked Honda 750 motorcycle. I didn&#8217;t even have my camera with me because it was so dark for photography (much darker than it looks here) so I quickly ran back to the house to get my gear and when I returned I only had time for a handful of shots before it flew off. At this focal length I&#8217;m amazed this one came out as well as it did while hand holding the very heavy older version of the 500mm with tc in this light and getting only 1\/30 sec shutter speed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the background on the image and why it means so much to me. Feel free to ignore all my jabbering if you don&#8217;t have the interest and just enjoy the photo of a great little owl on a highly unusual perch.<\/p>\n<p>As many readers know, my cousin Ken Dudley and I were like brothers. His family and mine lived on adjacent farms as we were growing up and the twelve of us were one big and very close large clan. Eventually we sold our farm to Ken&#8217;s family and moved away, I went to college in Utah and Ken and his father, my favorite uncle Floyd Dudley, operated the combined farms together. Without Ken I&#8217;d have <em>never<\/em> been able to take up serious bird photography. That&#8217;s another story but I&#8217;ve documented it <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/18\/saying-goodbye-to-an-old-friend-and-remembering-the-kindness-of-another\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/span> if you don&#8217;t already know it and have the interest.<\/p>\n<p>When Ken and Floyd were living alone on the farm together in the late 70&#8217;s and 80&#8217;s they bought a pair of matching motorcycles for trips to nearby Glacier National Park and the like. Back then Ken was a bit of a loveable &#8220;wild child&#8221; and one night he wrecked and totaled his bike, almost losing his life in the process.\u00a0 But after Floyd died Ken could never part with his dad&#8217;s bike, even though he rarely if ever rode it and a neighboring farmer wanted to buy it. So it sat on the farm for decades gathering dust and rust. It&#8217;s still there.<\/p>\n<p>And that cute little owl did me the favor of perching on Floyd&#8217;s old bike and posing for me, if only for a couple of seconds. Everything in this image is loaded with fond memories for me &#8211; including the owl, the motorcycle, the &#8220;old shop&#8221; in the background and the flowering Caragana bush on the left. We used Caraganas on the farm for windbreaks. Believe me, we needed them.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re still here through all my ramblings, thanks for indulging me. I do tend to go on at times, especially when the farm is involved.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Late Addendum &#8211; My cousin Jim Dudley, Ken&#8217;s older brother, lives on the farm now. After he saw my post this morning he posted a photo to Facebook of another Great Horned Owl fledgling, taken very recently, sitting on the workbench of Floyd&#8217;s &#8220;new shop&#8221;.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Jim gave me permission to copy it from FB and post it here for those readers that aren&#8217;t on Facebook. The caption below the photo is Jim&#8217;s, from FB. The photo was taken in the &#8220;new shop&#8221; which is right next to the &#8220;old shop&#8221; in my photo. The fledgling below is in defensive mode because Jim had to be in the shop to work on greenhouse parts that had been badly damaged by severe wind.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"49231\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/20\/a-motorcycle-riding-great-horned-owl-fledgling\/jims-great-horned-owl\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,675\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"jim&amp;#8217;s great horned owl\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49231 size-full\" title=\"jim's-great-horned-owl\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><span id=\"fbPhotoSnowliftCaption\" class=\"fbPhotosPhotoCaption\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-live=\"polite\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;K&quot;}\"><span class=\"hasCaption\">&#8220;Ron&#8217;s pic of a fledgling great horned owl reminded me of a similar situation just a couple of weeks ago when I had some help from another chick just 30&#8242; from Dad&#8217;s motorcycle &#8211; this owl is sitting on Dad&#8217;s workbench and is curious about my effort to repair parts to my greenhouse. Thanks Ron for bringing back memories&#8221;. &#8211; Jim Dudley<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>For some reason I love that old carburetor in front of the owl. It&#8217;s oozing with &#8220;farm&#8221; and Floyd and Ken&#8217;s (and now Jim&#8217;s) always cluttered workbench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Owl and farm memories. (2 photos)<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/07\/great-horned-owl-fledglings-on-nostalgic-montana-farm-perches\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[334,7084,405],"tags":[547,7574,220],"class_list":["post-162786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds","category-dudley-family-history","category-great-horned-owls-owls","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-great-horned-owl-fledgling","tag-montana-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/jims-great-horned-owl.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-GlA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162786"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162853,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162786\/revisions\/162853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}