![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/short-eared-owl-8160-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-8160-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/u>1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I found him five days ago in northern Utah as he was intensely hunting prey from an old, weathered fence post. Almost certainly this bird is the father of the juvenile SEO perched on barbed wire<\/a> I posted a few days ago\u00a0because the two owls were quite close to each other and I could see the apparent adult female a few hundred yards down the road. I believe they were both still keeping a close eye on the youngster.<\/p>\n But for now this owl was interested in nothing more than looking for voles in the grasses nearby. He was nearly always looking down…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n in one direction or another and at different angles – sometimes so steeply I could barely see his eyes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But usually the angle wasn’t so steep which pleased this photographer because the eyes of our subjects are usually so important in our photographs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n He was even watching behind him – sometimes further behind him than this but then I couldn’t see his eyes. He may have been watching something other than potential prey coming in his direction as you’ll see further on in this post.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Occasionally, though not very often, he’d check me out but I sure didn’t hold much interest for him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n He’d always go back to looking for those elusive little rodents. By this time I’d removed my teleconverter for possible takeoff shots but the owl had no intention of vacating a favorite hunting platform until he spotted a vole.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Not even a cow passing very close behind him could distract him from his mission\u00a0(check out what my optics did to the eye of the bovine – it’s a little subtle but it’s there). Eventually I decided to leave him and drive down the road to photograph the young owl on the wire\u00a0but I was reluctant to do so because it meant that\u00a0I’d have to pass very close to this owl and I always try to avoid flushing birds whenever possible (one day I’m going to have a T-shirt made that reads “Flush Toilets, Not Birds” – a favorite saying of\u00a0fellow birder and photographer\u00a0Shyloh Robinson…).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n