<\/p>\n
![\"short-eared](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/short-eared-owl-0486b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I encountered him (I believe it’s a male) along a rural and fairly remote road this past summer near Howell, Utah. He was hunting the agricultural fields along a fence line and would\u00a0sometimes perch on one of the posts. There was occasional traffic on the road but he seemed to ignore it and me most of the time. But suddenly and with no apparent reason his demeanor changed and he stared me down for a few moments before…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n launching\u00a0in my direction. I fired off a long burst as he approached and hoped that my focus points would stay locked on to the bird. I got 29 shots as he came at me but as you might expect some were sharper than others. The following three images are sequential shots in the burst. The first one isn’t very sharp but I wanted to show the varying wing positions in 3 tenths of a second.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Soon he was so close I couldn’t get the entire bird in the frame so I did some creative cropping with most of these images.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the sharpest\u00a0shot of the bunch. In my experience focus points often have a difficult time following a bird approaching at this angle and this fast.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Soon after this shot was taken I lost focus on the owl and after that he veered away from me but I estimate that he was within 10-15 feet of my pickup when he did so. I’ve photographed Short-eared Owls\u00a0many times\u00a0over the years but never have I had an experience like this one. His motivation may have been curiosity or intimidation or something else. I just don’t know…<\/p>\n One of my strongest memories of the encounter was the absolute silence as this large bird flew in so close that I almost felt I could have reached out my window and touched him. It was a wonderful demonstration of the silent flight of owls.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: Many (if not most) images of an owl flying directly at the photographer have been baited, often with store-bought mice. I want to emphasize that this owl was not baited or set up in any way.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think this owl might have been trying to intimidate me or maybe he was just curious about my pickup. Either way he sure did come in close.<\/p>\n![\"short-eared](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/short-eared-owl-0505b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"short-eared](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/short-eared-owl-0515b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"short-eared](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/short-eared-owl-0516b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"short-eared](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/short-eared-owl-0517b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n