![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/short-eared-owl-5460-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-5460-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This recently fledged youngster was perched along the side of a road on an old tumbleweed. It seemed oblivious to any danger from passing vehicles and I was concerned for its safety and actually hoped that my presence would cause it to move to a safer location but it didn’t (as far as I know it survived being so close to the road).<\/p>\n It was also oblivious to the fly on its belly but it was extremely interested in my pickup\u00a0and the clicking sounds from my camera.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n And as young owls in particular are prone to do it used parallax on me by rotating its head in a most endearing manner. I believe it was honing in on the clicking sounds\u00a0from my camera because parallax activity seemed to increase when I was taking photos.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n It repeatedly rotated its head so far\u00a0in both directions that I marveled at the flexibility of its neck (I always do when I see parallaxing owls). Owls have unique anatomy that allows them extreme flexibility of the neck without\u00a0interfering with\u00a0blood flow to the head.<\/p>\n Sharp eyes will notice how much\u00a0warmer the light is in the second and third images as compared to the first.\u00a0These shots were taken\u00a0just after 7 AM and the first one was taken only 7 minutes after the others – light quality can change very fast.<\/p>\n I wish I had more room at the top of this image for better composition but I just don’t.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/640, f\/8, ISO 400, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 153mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This owl wasn’t alone.\u00a0A much darker sibling was perched on a pile of dirt just a few feet away and as you can see that one was playing the parallax game too.<\/p>\n There’s still time to see fledgling\u00a0Short-eared Owls\u00a0this year (we rescued Galileo<\/a> off the barbed wire a year ago next week) and I hope I do but if it doesn’t happen perhaps that means most of the owls are nesting in more remote areas this year. If so there should be less danger from vehicles and barbed wire fences.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For most folks very young owls have oodles of appeal and for me fledgling Short-eared Owls are at the top of the list.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n