Each of the following four photos was published in November of 2010. Today’s selection is heavy on owls.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A very young Burrowing Owl performing a wing and leg stretch, although at the time I had to wonder if ‘he’ was actually telling me that his siblings ‘went thataway’. That impression was enhanced because he’s looking in the same direction his wing is pointing. I’ll never forget this adorable little owl, in part because he was one of the first very young Burrowing Owls I’d ever photographed.<\/p>\n Every time I see this image I think I see a word written vertically on his side in front of his right wing, as if his parents had written his name there to help distinguish him from all of his similar siblings. But I’ve yet to find the rosetta stone that allows me to translate that word from ‘Owl’ into English.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This was a winter morning that remains deeply etched into my brain. I’d been photographing birds at Farmington Bay WMA after a snowstorm the day before and I had the entire place to myself. Fresh, clean snow covered everything and made my tires squeak on the dirt road. Suddenly I noticed it was rapidly getting dark and when I looked to the northwest an incredibly dark and foreboding storm front was nearly on top of me. I was already having trouble negotiating the deep snow on the dirt road from the previous storm so I quickly turned around and headed for home. I sure as hell didn’t want to get stuck on the refuge with no one else there to help pull me out of the snow.<\/p>\n As the snow began to fall it was so dark I almost didn’t see this Barn Owl hunting silently along the frozen canal. I was immediately struck by how difficult life can be for birds in situations like this. I almost never assign titles to my images but for me this one has always been thought of as “The Lonely Hunter”. It’s one of the very few ‘butt shots’ that I really like.<\/p>\n The first print I ever sold to a client was this one so along with everything else its sentimental significance is strong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A male Canvasback that has just popped up onto the surface after diving into the mud of the pond for food. Muddy water is still streaming off his back, his head and neck are covered with thick mud and his muddy nictitating membrane is just beginning to open revealing his red eye. He had a bill full of watery mud in his mouth that he was straining through his bill for food, thus the gush of muddy water streaming out of the tip of his bill. I think he looks like the creature from the black lagoon.<\/p>\n Part of the reason I like this photo so much is because it was so very, very hard to get. These ducks pop up to the surface quickly and you never know where they’ll come up so getting a sharp shot at the exact moment of emergence with no body parts clipped or cut off is the epitome of a Hail Mary shot. Over a period of more than ninety minutes I probably tried far more than a hundred times and this was my only real success.<\/p>\n As I’ve said before, for me degree of difficulty matters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Wing](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/burrowing-owl-01441.jpg\" "\\"burrowing-owl-01441")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/barn-owl-5527.jpg\" "\\"barn-owl-5527")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/canvasback-5322-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"canvasback-5322-ron-dudley\\"")
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![\"Sibling](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/burrowing-owl-9406.jpg\" "\\"burrowing-owl-9406")
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