I do not know how people get owls in great light. I never see barred owls especially, out in the open. They are usually hiding in a bush, within the dark part of the woods, or within branches.
Luckily I found this barred owl basking in a sliver of light. These are not recent shots. Enjoy your week!
This pair has been in and out of public land at one of the many places I hike. It has mostly been outside of public land past two years. Too many things have happened and continue to happen that keep them on private lands. Tonight the pair crossed the border into public land.
I actually saw one of them on Sunday morning. I was looking at another bird and the owl made one of the many sounds a barred owl makes. Turns out it was in a neighbouring tree. I would like to think it was saying hi!
I have not heard any of the usual telltale signs they are near in the past several months such as the complaining of robins, bluejays, chipmunks, etc. Birds complain when a hawk or owl is nearby. Tonight was the first time I heard the signs, but it was well after I saw it.
The pictures above and below are at sunset. It actually caught something on the ground and carried it to a neighbouring tree to its mate. The mate ate a little then carried it off towards private land. I think they will only be occasional opportunities on the fly to see them again this year.
I hope I see them again in the future. This was unexpected, but great nonetheless.
The short-eared owl was in a new spot tonight. I am convinced it is the same owl every time one lands on posts etc. This time it landed on the ground next to the parking lot. The wind had picked up and it settled there for a long time looking to be in a not so happy mood. They do not seem to like winds above 10 miles an hour.
Yes, I felt the earthquake today. I was on the third floor of my workplace. The building shook for about 20 seconds or so, the floor seemed to shake, and there was a rumbling noise. I was surprised it was only a 4.8, but there appears only be some minor damage in places such as cracks on walls and water in basements. I did not feel any of the aftershocks. The were less intense. The one most likely to be felt I think occurred around 6 p.m., but I was watching this owl by then and was further away. Have a great weekend.
When the owls come out in better light it gives me a chance to up the shutter speed to 1/2000 of a second. This enables me to stop the action better and get less blur and more details in the image.
Many times they are coming out at sunset or after sunset. To try to reduce noise in the photos I had lower shutter speeds in early photos. Many of those photos have blur in the wings and do not have sharp details. I have a lot of shots the last two or three days I went where they came out prior to sunset. This photo was still lightened. Hopefully your week is not as soggy as mine so far.
Some people only go in search of wildlife on sunny days with blue skies. Some people only look for things in early morning or golden hour light. Sometimes cloudy days or photos a few hours before sunset can work.
I take photos whenever I can get them. Animals do not go by our schedule. I have a lot of short eared owl photos. I was happy anytime I saw them, but hoped for good lighting conditions.
It sounds like we will have rainy and possibly snowy weather this week. Whatever the weather, have a nice week.
Two nights ago a wish came true. I was hoping a short-eared owl would land on a birdhouse close to the viewing stand. It was not there for long, but I got off a few of shots.
It was not ideal lighting conditions, but I will take it. It came out with clouds at the horizon during sunset. They could be leaving for Canada anytime soon.
Sometimes wishes do come true. Have a great week!
There were maybe 3-4 other cars at around 4 p.m. The others left, then I saw two owls on the far side of the field come up and do short flights spaced.
Later, as cars started to arrive, one flew and landed on one post and stayed for a long time. The post was far out, so no pictures here. However, when it flew, (as its audience was growing again) it flew back and forth over the trail and landed on various posts on both sides.
By my count it landed on four different posts, at least one of them multiple times.
It flew rather close to the parking lot and the trail.
Despite the cloudy, overcast sky they came out before sunset and at least one of them gave us quite a show. Anything is possible even on a cloudy, dreary day.
After several days of either heavy rains or strong winds it was much calmer weather today. One owl was nice enough to come out before sunset. I believe others came up later.
Last night they came out after sunset so the images were very grainy. I was happy one came out earlier tonight. Enjoy your week!
After stopping by after work yesterday and not seeing any owls, there was already short-eared owls out and about when I arrived in the parking lot at around 5 p.m. today. Evidently they were out around 4:00 or prior to that busily hunting .
I could see the owl in the tree from the parking lot, but I like moving along. The owl stayed in the tree for a while.
Right after I started walking up the trail I saw one owl very close to the trail. Unfortunately I was not prepared and had my camera set around 1/500 or a second. The above photo has blurred wings but otherwise not too bad.
The above was also taken at 1/500 of a second.
It was getting too dark shortly after this photo above. There are two other kinds of owls at this location. A great horned owl had a lot to say tonight. We can’t get close to them at this location.
I believe at one point there were 4 short eared owls flying around in this one area of the trail. There were only 3-4 people photographing in this area. After yesterday I was thinking they may have left for Canada, but they are still here. This made my day. Have a great weekend!
I took these after 5 tonight. It was cloudy and started raining after I left, so it was dark. The first one is short eared-owl on a post that is cropped a lot.
This second picture was lightened a lot, but not cropped as much as the first picture. It landed on a post very close to where we could stand. This is the first year I have seen the short-eared owls land on posts.
Although the lighting is bad, I still enjoyed seeing them closer than I ever have before. I just wish they would come that close with better lighting conditions.
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