![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/short-eared-owl-2638b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-2638b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAnd an acrobatic landing it was.<\/p>\n
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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 Just a split second before this photo was taken (in May two years ago)\u00a0the\u00a0presumed male Short-eared Owl had landed on the post. He kept his wings out for slightly longer than\u00a0they typically do\u00a0after touchdown because the landing was more acrobatic than usual so he was still using his wings for balance. He was carrying a vole in his right foot\u00a0which meant\u00a0it was a one-footed landing on a severely leaning perch so gaining and maintaining his balance was just\u00a0a little tricky, especially while looking off into the distance\u00a0to his right.<\/p>\n Photographing birds during the landing process is difficult (much more so than during takeoff) so I don’t have\u00a0many\u00a0photos like this. Throw in the vole (admittedly in shade)\u00a0and the wings-out posture as bonuses and I was happy to get the shot, despites its flaws – the owl could be a slightly sharper, the light\u00a0was a little harsh (note the high sun angle from the shadow angle\u00a0on the bird and vole) and I didn’t have quite\u00a0enough room on the left to get the composition I preferred (the bird is too centered in the frame).<\/p>\n Like most of my photos the image isn’t perfect but perfection is difficult to achieve when photographing wild\u00a0raptors that aren’t baited in\u00a0and\/or\u00a0set up. That doesn’t mean\u00a0I can’t still appreciate the image for what it is (and is not).<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And an acrobatic landing it was.<\/p>\n