Many readers know that for year’s I’ve returned often to the Montana farm where I was raised. The draw for me is extended family that still lives there, the memories (oh the memories!)\u00a0and the Great Horned Owls that have occupied the old farm buildings for many years now. In June their chicks fledge and in their explorations\u00a0those curious little rascals can show up almost anywhere so on most mornings I’d get up before dawn\u00a0(which arrives\u00a0inhumanly early in northern Montana that time of year)\u00a0and look for them.<\/p>\n
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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 On June 9, 2009 I found this one perched on an old, junked\u00a0motorcycle. I didn’t even have my camera with me because it was so dark for photography\u00a0(much darker than it looks here) so\u00a0I quickly ran back to the house to get my gear and only had time for a couple of shots before it flew off.\u00a0At this focal length I’m amazed this one\u00a0came out as well as it did while hand holding the very heavy older version of the\u00a0500mm with tc in this light and getting only 1\/30 sec shutter speed.<\/p>\n Here’s the background on the image and why it means so much to me. Feel free to ignore all\u00a0my jabbering if you don’t have the interest and just (hopefully) enjoy the photo of a great little owl on a very unusual perch.<\/p>\n As some readers know I was very close (we were like brothers)\u00a0to my cousin Ken Dudley. His family and mine lived on adjacent farms as we were growing up and the twelve of us were like one big clan. Eventually my family moved away, I went to college in Utah and Ken and his father (and my favorite uncle) Floyd Dudley\u00a0operated the combined farms together. Without Ken I’d have never<\/em> been able to take up serious bird photography (that’s another story but\u00a0I’ve documented it\u00a0here<\/a> if you have the interest).<\/p>\n When Ken and Floyd were living alone\u00a0on the farm together in the late 70’s and 80’s they bought a pair of matching motorcycles for trips to nearby Glacier National Park and the like. Back then Ken was kind of a loveable “wild child” and one night he wrecked his bike\u00a0(almost losing his life in the process) but after Floyd died Ken could never part with\u00a0his Dad’s\u00a0bike (even though he rarely if ever\u00a0rode it and\u00a0a neighboring farmer\u00a0wanted to buy it) so it sat on the farm for decades gathering dust. It’s still there.<\/p>\n And that cute little owl did me the favor of perching on Floyd’s old bike and posing for me. Everything in this image is loaded with fond memories for me – including the “old shop” in the background and the flowering Caragana bush on the left (we used them on the farm for windbreaks – believe me, we needed them).<\/p>\n If you’re still here through all my ramblings thanks for indulging me. I do tend to go on at times…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – I’m having serious computer\/internet problems and don’t know how long it will take me to resolve or how it may effect Feathered Photography down the road. Please bear with me if that happens.<\/em><\/p>\n PSS – My cousin Jim Dudley, Ken’s older brother, lives on the farm now.\u00a0After he saw my post this morning he posted\u00a0a shot of another Great Horned Owl\u00a0fledgling (taken very recently) sitting on the workbench of Floyd’s “new shop”. He said that Floyd’s bike was only a few feet away from the bird. Perhaps those farm owls have a “thing” for that bike…? Anyway, if you’re interested and you’re on FB here’s the link to that photo.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Ok, Jim gave me permission to copy it from FB\u00a0and post it here for those readers that aren’t on Facebook. The caption is Jim’s, from FB. The photo was taken in the “new shop” right next to the “old shop” in my photo. The fledgling is in defensive mode because Jim had to be in the shop to work.\u00a0Those\u00a0youngsters do get around!<\/em><\/p>\n And BTW, the greenhouse repair job Jim mentions\u00a0was necessary because recently very strong winds damaged it severely.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/great-horned-owl-1850b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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