![\"\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/barn-owl-0656.jpg\" "\\"Barn")
<\/a><\/p>\nBarn Owl in flight during\u00a0in full daylight\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I had never even seen a Barn Owl in flight until the\u00a0winter of 2007-08.\u00a0 That\u00a0unusually frigid\u00a0winter began early and brought more snow than usual\u00a0to the valleys of Utah.\u00a0 Suddenly, during January and much of February, Barn Owls were hunting the marshes close to the Great Salt Lake during daytime – sometimes until 10 or 11 AM.\u00a0 Their usual strategy was to hunt for voles (very similar to mice)\u00a0along the edges of Phragmites growth in the wetlands.\u00a0 Typically it was very cold on those mornings – often between 0 and +20 degrees Farenheit which made it very uncomfortable standing outside in front of a tripod mounted camera for hours on end!\u00a0 I very nearly lost some digits to frostbite many times but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Barn Owl hunting voles along frosty\u00a0Phragmites edges<\/em><\/p>\n I usually preferred to get Phragmites in the backgrounds of my flight shots if possible because they make such a nice backdrop.\u00a0 In the photo above, there had been heavy fog with sub freezing temperatures so literally everything was covered with a heavy coating of frost.\u00a0 A magical setting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Barn Owl skimming Phragmites in background<\/em><\/p>\n Sometimes the Phragmites was far enough\u00a0away\u00a0to be very out of focus, like here.\u00a0 I like the effect with the blue of the sky above.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 Barn Owl approaching head on\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I got very few images of them approaching me head on – this is one of the few.\u00a0 This type of close, head on flight shot of a raptor\u00a0has often been baited (food,\u00a0typically mice, placed by the photographer in\u00a0a place advantageous for photography to attract the bird for close shots).\u00a0 None of my bird photography ever\u00a0involves baiting.\u00a0 I don’t mean to sound self-righteous about it but baiting is a serious\u00a0ethical issue for me and many other nature photographers.\u00a0 But that’s another story for another blog post…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Barn Owl diving on prey<\/em><\/p>\n These birds would cruise along relatively slowly looking for voles.\u00a0 When they would spot one they would turn on a dime and dive vertically trying to catch it.\u00a0 One of these diving shots with a good look at the bird’s eye always eluded me – an image that’s very difficult to get for obvious reasons.\u00a0 Still, I’m happy with this shot.\u00a0 You can just see some of the out of focus Phragmites the bird is diving into at the bottom of the frame.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Two Barn Owls hunting voles\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It was quite unusual to see two owls at the same time as they are solitary hunters.\u00a0 Even more unusual was that I was able to get both birds in the plane of focus in this shot as the\u00a0depth of field\u00a0at 1120 mm with my camera, 500mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter is very shallow.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 A Missed Opportunity<\/em><\/p>\n Usually I was photographing these owls\u00a0by myself, \u00a0just the way I prefer it, though\u00a0at times there was a few other photographers next to me.\u00a0 On this day I was shooting alone but soon two other photogs\u00a0showed up and they\u00a0were hand holding\u00a0(no tripods) their cameras.\u00a0 They were perhaps 200 feet from me and I knew they were standing too close to the\u00a0Phragmites.\u00a0 The problem with doing that is the phrag\u00a0is tall and\u00a0most of it is so thick you can’t see through it to\u00a0see the owls approaching.\u00a0 That’s what happened here – these two guys didn’t even see the bird until it was just a few feet from them and\u00a0as you can see they don’t yet even have their gear up ready to shoot.\u00a0 I could hear them groaning\u00a0and cussing about their missed shots.\u00a0\u00a0 This isn’t a great shot obviously but I include it here to give you a feeling for what it can be like photographing (and missing) these birds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Barn Owl in a gully<\/em><\/p>\n This was my very first opportunity with a Barn Owl.\u00a0 I’d been shooting Northern Harriers in early winter when a howler of a snowstorm blew in so I decided to put my tail between my legs and go home.\u00a0 On the way out of the area I happened to look down into a deep gully just as it started to snow and there was this owl, hunkered down in a relatively protected place to ride out the storm.\u00a0 I took a few shots then let the bird alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Barn Owl in the fog and ice<\/em><\/p>\n Now back to the sad story of the winter of 2007-08 and the Barn Owls.\u00a0 The reason these birds abandoned their normal nocturnal hunting habits was because they were starving.\u00a0 The longer and colder than normal winter was very difficult for them.\u00a0 It was so cold and there was so much snow that the voles spent less time on the surface foraging for food – instead eating mostly underground roots and vegetation.\u00a0 This meant less access to food for the owls just when they needed the fuel most.\u00a0 Many of the Barn Owls didn’t survive the winter and very few were seen in the area the following winter.\u00a0 This year so far there’s just a few so they’re likely still recovering.\u00a0 In some of my images of them from that winter I can see their gaunt frames and must admit that it saddens me.\u00a0 The photo above (taken in fog on a very cold morning), was shot just last winter and\u00a0shows the harshness of winter survival for these magnificent birds.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n