Saw-whet Owl

[Raymond Barlow]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/rammy111111/Saw-whetOwl3.jpg

Amherst Island, Ontario, Canada
D300 / 200-400 VR
1/25s f/8.0 at 220.0mm iso250

Tripod, natural light, slight crop

After a 1 hour sleep, the alarm went off at 3:30 am... out the door before 4, met Mike Veltri at 4:30, and on our way to Amherst for the 7:30 ferry.. we hiked through the woods, and found this wee owl on a nice perch, enjoying the moment, only to be screamed at by some irate birders!!

We were about 20 feet from the bird when they arrived, they were about 30... we moved to about 15 feet, and got blasted... after a fair exchange, similar to a pack of wolves on a bad day, they left... funny.. the tracks of previous people to this subject that were in the snow went into about 3 feet from the tree.

Amazing... I am sure that if we had binoculars on, there would have been no issue. I honestly do like and respect all people, but being called an idiot for taking 2 steps forward was a little uncalled for.

ok, now I feel better!!

thanks for a good time Mike, I really enjoyed the day., well, at least most of it!

[Stephen Stephen]

Ray this bird is still on my life wish list. Several of my friends photographed it yesterday as well. Nice clean image but I would be tempted to clone out the OOF green twig in the lower right area.

Did you get a portrait format image too?

[Stu Bowie]

Well done for postioning yourself so the trunk formed the BG for the owl. I like all the earthy brown colours in this, together with the bits of snow on his head. I would maybe dodge the eyes slightly, but still well captured Raymond.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I Iike the pose and the soft light but bg looks a bit buzy!

[Arthur Morris]

Wonderful bird and typical birder behavior.... The whole image looks dark and dingy esp. the irises... You chose the best available perspective thus framing the bird against the tree.

Best advise: to create a better image in the low light and to get the birders even more pissed off, use fill flash at about -1 stop with a Better Beamer.

[Mike Lentz]

Best advise: to create a better image in the low light and to get the birders even more pissed off, use fill flash at about -1 stop with a Better Beamer.

:D:D:D Daayem! Somebody is on a roll today! :D When your done taking pics of the bird, turn it on the birders giving you the eye. ;)

A nice environmental image here, Ray. I would selectively lighten the eyes a bit to make em' pop.

[Mike Veltri]

Nice shot Raymond, the company was great and the adrenaline rush when confronting that women made me warmed me all over. :D I almost forgot about the -19c temps. (-4 farenhite)

[Raymond Barlow]

good gosh!! take a pic of the birders!! wow, great Idea!!! thanks Mike!

Stephen, yes, I should knock that one out, it doesn't fit.

Stuart.. I personally do not do the dodge thing too much, the light shown here is "as is", and anything that changes the basic natural lighting doesn't work for me.

Manos.. very busy, but thats what was there, and this is where they live.

Artie .. not sure what Dingy means, but this is what we saw... it was a very dark day, and I never use fill flash., unless I am in a house doing snap shots.

Mike V... the amazing thing was that when she started harping at us, and I started harping back, her friends bailed on her... I guess I am just that scary looking.

I do not dislike birders, most of them are very cool, but when the few of them resent me for no real significant reason, it sure makes for a messy confrontation.

thanks to everyone for the comments., much appreciated.

[Raymond Barlow]

Ray this bird is still on my life wish list. Several of my friends photographed it yesterday as well. Nice clean image but I would be tempted to clone out the OOF green twig in the lower right area.

Did you get a portrait format image too?

o yes, i took several images in many framing configurations., could have spent the day there!

[Mike Lentz]

Don't forget to turn the flash to FULL power when "flashing" the birders. :D:D

[Bruce Gove]

I like to a carry a few fragmentation grenades for tacky people...

Cheers,
Bruce

[David Hemmings]

IMAO!!! What a joke, no comments. Great capture Ray, you worked hard for this:) It is a natural setting and you did well at 1/25th

[John Ippolito]

Excellent pic Ray. I love the composition/setting here. The BG looks like oil paint and the owl is wonderful positioned in front of the trunk. I would clone the one branch as Stephen has suggested. Real nice work!

[Juan Aragonés]

Great story Ray and a very good image of a really nice species. I do not mind about the distracting Bg because it is part of the habitat of the owl. The composition works fine for me and love the fact that the owl is trying to hide its body with the trunk of the tree. I think that the only improvement that you can do here is to add a litle bit of light to his left eye and to selectively increase the saturation of the eyes. This is an almost B/W image and I think that a touch of color can add a lot to the overall quality of the image.:)

By the way, if someone consider that 30 feet is a safe distance to do not disturb a bird I invite him to come to Spain... our safety distance here is about 30 miles :D:D You guys are lucky for having such tolerant owls. I can´t imagine to myself getting so close to a wild owl in Spain. 15 feet? It is impossible

[Raymond Barlow]

thanks for the nice comments!


Great story Ray and a very good image of a really nice species. I do not mind about the distracting Bg because it is part of the habitat of the owl. The composition works fine for me and love the fact that the owl is trying to hide its body with the trunk of the tree. I think that the only improvement that you can do here is to add a litle bit of light to his left eye and to selectively increase the saturation of the eyes. This is an almost B/W image and I think that a touch of color can add a lot to the overall quality of the image.:)

By the way, if someone consider that 30 feet is a safe distance to do not disturb a bird I invite him to come to Spain... our safety distance here is about 30 miles :D:D You guys are lucky for having such tolerant owls. I can´t imagine to myself getting so close to a wild owl in Spain. 15 feet? It is impossible

thanks Juan.. yes, we have these Boreal Owls, which include the Saw-whet, the Great Gray, and the Boreal owl... these birds are all quite tame, and usually allow an approach of inside 5 feet... certainly, there is no need to get that close, but we did see people with point and shoot cameras sneak in there.

I don't think a little human interaction with these birds is detrimental to their existance, but unfortunately, some people have different opinions!

Not much we can do about that... if you want Juan, come over for a visit, we can go in there with some kind of a plan!

[Juan Aragonés]

Ray you can bet that I would love to accept your offer and spend some time with you after this magnificent birds and I hope to do it one of these days. Of course, you are welcome in Spain too :)

I totally agree with you that a little bit of human interaction is not detrimental for birds, or at least the kind of human interaction that we are talking about ;)


thanks for the nice comments!



thanks Juan.. yes, we have these Boreal Owls, which include the Saw-whet, the Great Gray, and the Boreal owl... these birds are all quite tame, and usually allow an approach of inside 5 feet... certainly, there is no need to get that close, but we did see people with point and shoot cameras sneak in there.

I don't think a little human interaction with these birds is detrimental to their existance, but unfortunately, some people have different opinions!

Not much we can do about that... if you want Juan, come over for a visit, we can go in there with some kind of a plan!

[Raymond Barlow]

Ray you can bet that I would love to accept your offer and spend some time with you after this magnificent birds and I hope to do it one of these days. Of course, you are welcome in Spain too :)

I totally agree with you that a little bit of human interaction is not detrimental for birds, or at least the kind of human interaction that we are talking about ;)

exactly, so long as we respect the birds welfare, and the opportunity for other photographers / birders, its all good.

I have heard of people petting these saw-whets... seems a little much to me.