Boreal Owl...What A Cutie!

2013 has been wonderful for owls so far. This was photographed in February, just a few days before the location was made very public and the area "victim" of a bit too much negative attention. It was tucked in next to the trunk, very low light, and only two "keyholes" that permitted good enough photos (one larger one for full-body, and this one for a full-frame head portrait). My first ever sighting of this species!

Canon 7D + 100-400L @380mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/80s., f/6.3, ISO 1600, fill-flash @ -1.3 FEC, handheld, darkened the green foliage in LLC.

Lovely image, Daniel. The splash of green works well for me. I might be tempted to try taking just a tiny bit more off of the top of the image.

Tight but a great find...always enjoy your work

He is a cutie no doubt. nice detail & I like the eye contact.

oh man this fellow was such a treat. excellent job despite the tough light and perch conditions

Yep, very cute Daniel, like the squinty eyes.....wishing the dof was a little deeper as the outline is a bit fuzzy and there's something a bit funny going on top right of the head, or maybe just the shallowish dof again

Congrats on seeing this species. Very nice capture, with the head clear of surrounding veggies. And amazingly sharp at 380mm. Would love to see one some day.

A cutie for sure....nice work.

Beautiful portrait, great details and eye contact.