{"id":36124,"date":"2015-12-26T05:50:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-26T12:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=36124"},"modified":"2015-12-26T06:20:20","modified_gmt":"2015-12-26T13:20:20","slug":"a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long-eared Owl And Two Barn Owls At Farmington Yesterday (+ 2 video clips)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas morning at Farmington was an &#8220;owly&#8221; experience for me &#8211; three birds, two species and a lifer. The lighting was poor all morning while I was there\u00a0but you&#8217;ll never catch me complaining about a three owl day, light or no light.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"36125\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,666\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Ron Dudley&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1451042241&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;640&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"barn owl 3061 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36125\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"barn owl 3061 ron dudley\" width=\"900\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley-150x111.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3061-ron-dudley-400x296.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Two of the three owls were Barn Owls &#8211; this is one of them. As is typical, this bird spent most of its time sleeping but\u00a0one time\u00a0it looked up and squinted at me and that was the best look I got at its eyes (almost none at all).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"36126\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"754,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Ron Dudley&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1451045971&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00025&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"barn owl 3272 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36126\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"barn owl 3272 ron dudley\" width=\"754\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley.jpg 754w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley-251x300.jpg 251w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley-126x150.jpg 126w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/barn-owl-3272-ron-dudley-400x477.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 754px) 100vw, 754px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The second\u00a0Barn Owl of the morning was largely hidden in the phragmites so I cropped pretty tightly on this bird\u00a0in an attempt to minimize some of the clutter.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gr9cbsgChPU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>When they&#8217;re in this type of setting (as they often are) they&#8217;re almost impossible to spot and their tendency to be immobile adds to that dilemma. This short clip of the bird above\u00a0should give you some idea of that but if you watch closely you&#8217;ll see some slight movement toward the end of the clip.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"36127\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"680,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Ron Dudley&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1451038498&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1600&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"long-eared owl 2616 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36127\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"long-eared owl 2616 ron dudley\" width=\"680\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley.jpg 680w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley-227x300.jpg 227w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2616-ron-dudley-400x529.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, 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<p>This Long-eared Owl was the highlight of the morning and that&#8217;s a true understatement as the bird was a lifer for me\u00a0(Sibley lists them as &#8220;rare&#8221;) . It was perched near the 4-way bridge and seemed to be hunting from that low perch, possibly to get out of the stingingly cold breeze. At first I was concerned that the owl might be injured because\u00a0four of the long primaries of its left wing were often in an unusual position, as you get a hint of in this image. But I saw this bird make two short flights that seemed normal and effortless and another photographer told me that he saw it make longer flights so it must have been ok.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rIC-qylwR80?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This owl wasn&#8217;t sleeping but it seldom opened its eyes enough for them to be seen. It scanned the near and far banks of the pond for prey and occasionally made short flights for prey (presumably voles). I had one reasonably good\u00a0opportunity to catch the bird in flight but I missed those shots through &#8220;operator error&#8221;\u00a0(and no, I don&#8217;t want to\u00a0 talk about it&#8230;). In this clip you see those long ears (ear tufts) blowing in the breeze and the somewhat unusual position\u00a0of\u00a0some of the left wing primaries.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"36134\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"681,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Ron Dudley&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1451040122&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"long-eared owl 2979b ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36134\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"long-eared owl 2979b ron dudley\" width=\"681\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley.jpg 681w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley-227x300.jpg 227w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley-114x150.jpg 114w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley-400x529.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px\" \/><strong><em>1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 1250, 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<p>Only once did the owl open its eyes enough to give a clear look at them, especially in this light. I believe it was looking at potential prey on the pond bank directly in front of it. This might be my favorite shot of the bird because of its open eyes and the fact that I had maneuvered my pickup to a position where I could get a patch of darker ice in the background where the wind had blown off the bright white snow.<\/p>\n<p>Even though yesterday was Christmas Day and it&#8217;s my tradition to go shooting early on that holiday I almost didn&#8217;t venture out because of the clouds, snow and poor light but I&#8217;m sure glad I did.<\/p>\n<p>One of my mantras is &#8220;you never know unless you go&#8221; and this time it paid off.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: A special thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/fineartamerica.com\/profiles\/dennis-hammer.html\" target=\"_blank\">Dennis Hammer<\/a>, another photographer who was on this bird when we arrived (the place was deserted except for us). Dennis pointed out the Long-eared Owl as I drove over the bridge. We&#8217;d have probably spotted it anyway but many photographers would have been secretive\u00a0about the owl and just hoped that\u00a0we would go away.\u00a0We appreciated his generosity and friendliness.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas morning at Farmington was an &#8220;owly&#8221; experience for me &#8211; three birds, two species and a lifer.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/a-long-eared-owl-and-two-barn-owls-at-farmington-yesterday-2-video-clips\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36134,"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],"tags":[2784,45,1794,1008,1522,2783,309,2732],"class_list":["post-36124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds","tag-asio-otus","tag-barn-owl","tag-christmas","tag-farmington-bay-waterfowl-management-area","tag-lifer","tag-long-eared-owls","tag-tyto-alba","tag-video-clip"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/long-eared-owl-2979b-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-9oE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36124","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=36124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}