Short-eared owl

[Rich Steel]

Hi

I found some Short-eared owls back in Decemeber 2006. I placed a perch at the site and returned two days later to find the owls using it. This image was taken from the car in some late afternoon winter sun



Taken with 1Dmk2N and 500mm lens. ISO 100 F6.3 at 1/400s.

Hopefully will be heading out to find more owls over the next couple of weeks.

Cheers

Rich

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Just a touch more head turn into the light would have worked wonderfully in your favor. Nevertheless, the light itself is lovely and the BG is soft just as I like it. It’s a pity that you didn’t just have the single perch upon which your owl is sitting.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful image Rich with a fantastic pose and perch and the lighting was definitely in your favor. My only nit would be that I would like a little more room on the left. Otherwise just a wondeful capture !!!

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Rich -
Lovely bird and like the soft blurred background colors

A bit more of the head turned towards camera would have been ideal

I would have perhaps cropped tighter at the bottom to remove grass blades and cloned out left most branch - i think it detracts from beauty of bird and soft background

Great effort

[Gayle Clement]

Beautiful pose with really wonderful light.

[Glenn Bartley]

Really neat shot. Oh if only that branch weren't chopped off ;)

[Rich Steel]

Thanks for the replies. I managed to get a lot of images of the owls and have other photos with the birds just on a single perch and somenice flight shots of these beautiful birds which I will post at some point in the future.

Cheers

Rich

[Linda Robbins]

Beautiful light, a gorgeous subject, and good exposure. Clever of you to put a perch out, and wonderful that the birds began using it so quickly. I just wish you had chosen a perch without the sawed-off end, and with only one branch. I find it surprisingly difficult sometimes to find a photogenic perch of the right size when I need one! I am really looking forward to seeing more of your posts of these beautiful owls...

________________________

Linda Robbins
lindaasart@aol.com

[Arthur Morris]

Rich, Wondeful image, great light, sharp as all get out. You should, however, be jailed for choosing such an ugly perch....

Look for a perch with character, a single branch with a nice curve to it. Set it up so that it leans slightly away from your position. That makes the bird land on the side of the perch near you with its whole body in the clear.

Avoid double pronged perches and cut off branches like the plague...

Judy, had you had a few martinis when you wrote, "fantastic... perch"?

later and love to all, artie

[Sid Garige]

Other than the perch, I like rest of the image very much. Very nice suggestions by Arite on selecting a perch.