My First Digital Barred Owl.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I photographed one as a teenager with my dad's old Minolta film camera way back when, and have not had a good chance at a Barred Owl since then. I knew there was a Barred Owl in this particular place but I had struck out on 3-4 previous visits. On this morning I came across a flock of about 15 cardinals in a shrub, which I found unusual in their numbers and "tameness", so I photographed them for about 10-15 minutes before realizing the owl was about 30 behind those cardinals (which I then realized were behaving in this way due to the presence of the owl). This is the very perch it was sitting on...pretty cool!

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/250s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, darkened a couple of brighter spots in the BG.

[William Dickson]

Beutiful photograph Daniel. I love the 'flowing' chest feathers and the expression on the birds face. Great natural feeling about the frame. Great work. Oh yes, and not a bad looking perch :S3: Well done

[Grace Scalzo]

Love the bokeh and of course the bird is sweet. A bit conflicted about the branch crossing the back of his head, but it's a very natural scene and the nice perch and falling snow more than make up for it. I have yet to see my first barred owl in the wild.

[Moe Ali]

Nice shot Daniel, I love all my few encounters with Owls. Magnificent birds. Just like William said, you captured a great expression. I'd be so tempted to clone out that branch above his head. Otherwise it's a great shot. I even like the hanging leaves in the background.

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Daniel,
Love the snow on the bird and I like the BG except for the branch intersecting the bird. Sweet image overall.
Allen

[arash_hazeghi]

cute pose Dan, looks like he didn't like the snow in his eyes

[Karl Egressy]

I'm glad you found one. Excellent image, the snow makes it special. This is a great Owl species, I had many wonderful shooting of it locally here in Guelph as well as at Presqu'ile and Whitby.

[Diane Miller]

Just gorgeous with a perfect BG!! No fair getting two great shots of different birds in the same time frame!