![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/short-eared-owl-1483d-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-1483d-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nA double dose of serendipity with the two related events being separated from each other by eight years. To the day.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n There’s a story behind this photo and I hope you’ll bear with me while I tell it below. It isn’t typical of the stories I often tell about my photos. In fact I really don’t remember anything about the events leading up to the behavior documented in this image. Hell, I don’t even remember the image.<\/p>\n Obviously we have two Short-eared Owls in flight. One of them has a vole in its beak and the other owl is lusting after the rodent and in pursuit of its “owner.” I think it’s a neat behavioral shot and the image quality isn’t bad either. Both birds are sharp enough (that’s never easy at long focal lengths), we can see the face and eye of one owl and nearly so on the other, the vole is obvious enough to explain the intention of the pursuing bird and I like the contrasting flight postures.<\/p>\n Based on its dark face I believe the owl in pursuit is a juvenile so the adult is probably one of its parents. perhaps deliberately enticing the youngster to practice its flight skills. If so the adult would have landed nearby and handed over the vole to its offspring.<\/p>\n But ya know what? I can’t remember taking this shot or even having it! All I know for sure is that it was taken on Antelope Island eight years ago today, on June 28, 2011.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So what are the two serendipitous events I referred to in my title? And why were they exactly eight years apart?<\/p>\n The first one should be obvious – getting such an interesting behavioral shot in the first place and having it be of better than decent quality. That took a huge dose of luck. But the second reason, the one I’m so blown away about, needs some explanation. And I’ll probably be too wordy about it but here goes.<\/p>\n Occasionally (only rarely, really) I go back into my files to see what species I photographed on this date in previous years so I know where to go looking for them now. That’s what I chose to do for this post and just by chance I chose to look in my archives for June 28, 2011 where I found this photo. I don’t remember taking it or ever seeing it and even though I apparently processed it once before (based on evidence that’s difficult to explain) I have never posted it to my blog or used it for anything else that I can find or remember. I find that hard to believe because I like the image so much but apparently it’s true. I searched all my blog post files and even did a Google reverse image search and no evidence of it exists anywhere other than my original RAW file.<\/p>\n And it probably would have remained in limbo forever if, out of about 4000 days to choose from, I hadn’t chosen to look in my files from June 28, 2011. I call that a serendipitous event in the extreme.<\/p>\n Makes me wonder how many more hidden gems I have in my files. And if I’ll ever find any of them if they do exist.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A double dose of serendipity with the two related events being separated from each other by eight years. To the day.<\/p>\n\n