Athene noctua-Little owl

One from last night (17th October) opportunities are slowly being taken away as the birds go in to survival mode now ,the bird now visits and checks out his territory a little later every night now ,this shot was just as the sun had dipped and the bird decided to give me a chance with the last bit of decent light available ,just to the left of the shot is the old wooden workbench that the bird lands on every time he comes in to the area ,the perch he landed on was moved a good 5 feet away so I could get a decent background and hoping for a bit of luck that he would land ,he did land a few times mid week but the weather was awful ,however being a Saturday I had a bit more time available and the weather was on my side ...Canon 1D MKIV 300MM F4 at F4 ISO 800 1/320 sec on a tripod in a portable hide Attachment 156239

Lovely shot good eye contact and clear background. I may be tempted to apply a tad more sharpening on the face and should areas - just to see what happens. I would also take about half an inch of the base.

love the stare and bg

Great capture, Dennis. Your work and patience paid off wonderfully. I like the soft light and warm tones and very nice BG.




Geoffrey

excellent Frame, I like the BG, the perch, perfect eye contact and sharp details, the plumage color looks quite different compared to the North American Specie

TFS

This is excellent.
Killer light and BG and perch.
I would crop from the bottom to just where the perch splits into two.
Gail

Beautiful image Dennis! I like the eye contact, light, IQ, perch and BG colors.

Another gem ! Maybe a little more room on the right ?
JR

Hello, a really lovely image, for me you have made everything right.

And as an european, i know this owl. But it is not easy to catch it in this way.

Good work