![\"short-eared](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/short-eared-owl-7880c-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/1000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI took the image in the Centennial Valley of Montana on June 25, 2010 as this male Short-eared Owl delivered a freshly caught and still-living vole to his family at the nest. On this cloudy day I’d been struggling\u00a0with light for photographing birds in flight but for a few moments some sun broke through and lit up the owl in the foreground while the mountains in the upper background were still\u00a0in shade which gave me an effect I like a lot. I also enjoy the framing, composition and sharpness of the bird, the eye contact and of course the vole. And the memories I associate with this owl are some of my all-time favorite in the field.<\/p>\n
But why post the image again?<\/p>\n
In\u00a0the past I’ve\u00a0printed\u00a0this\u00a0photo several times for others but I’ve\u00a0never printed it large\u00a0for myself\u00a0and recently I began to wonder why not since I’m so very fond of the image. So last week I ordered a large canvas print wrap and picked it up yesterday afternoon. The print is 36 x 24 and at those dimensions the bird looks stunning. At that size and resolution the detail in the bird is impressive and there’s even a distinct catch light in the right eye of the vole (here at only 900 pixels wide it can barely be seen).<\/p>\n
So obviously I’ve been looking at this image a lot lately and since many readers haven’t seen it larger than my banner thumbnail I decided that it deserved another go. I wish I dared post it at 1200 pixels but copyright infringement issues prevent me from\u00a0doing so.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This shot is near the top of my short-list of favorite images.<\/p>\n