Great Horned Owl Siesta - Cover of Living Bird

[Marina Scarr]

This is the same Great Horned Owl nest that I photographed last year, except this year two chicks successfully fledged! Here the female is napping with her 2 owlets. The one visible chick is resting on the other chick's feathers (bottom left) and they are both embedded in mom's belly feathers. The light was fairly harsh for this image, and I had to do quite a bit of dodging and burning.

I felt honored when the editor of Living Bird contacted me and asked whether he could use this image on the cover of the Spring issue of Living Bird.

Canon 1D4, 500L & 2.0
F16, 1/500sec, ISO 800, manual mode
Jobu head, Feisol tripod

C & C are also most welcomed and much appreciated.

[Diane Miller]

Congratulations, Marina! Great image and perfectly framed for a cover!

[Ishmeet Sahni]

This is just beautiful.....better than any image of any owl that I have ever seen... you have done a nice job of dodging burning.
I just can't keep my eyes of the Mommy and Baby.... Congratulations on the image being used by Living Bird.....

[Bruce Spell]

Excellent image, Marina. They look so peaceful. I really like the angle you've captured here. Did you have to use any elevation aid (ladder or other tree) to get even with them?

Congratulations on the cover. Well deserved in my opinion!

[Marina Scarr]

Excellent image, Marina. They look so peaceful. I really like the angle you've captured here. Did you have to use any elevation aid (ladder or other tree) to get even with them?

Congratulations on the cover. Well deserved in my opinion!

Thank you, Bruce! No, I did not use any device to get higher. This nest was actually quite close and not to high and with 1000mm it really helped to cut off most of the angle.

[Karl Egressy]

Congratulations, Marina. Great moment captured.

[Loi Nguyen]

Congratulations, Marina. It is a beautiful image. Well deserved. Loi

[MohsenVahedipour]

Wonderful capture. Congratulation.

[Girish Prahalad]

a very tender moment captured! congrats on getting published

[Satish Ranadive]

Congratulations, Marina.
Absolutely superb image of slipping beauty with her babies.
Love the way they are camouflaged with tree with beautiful texture.Great composition too.

Regards,
Satish.

[dankearl]

Congratulations and well deserved.
Looks like a fat pile of feathers with a small head and beak tucked into it.
Very nice....

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

This is such a great predecessor to the other image. What a wonderful opportunity and you did well with the harsh light. Congratulations again on the publication

[Rachel Hollander]

Marina - Congrats on the publication. Excellent image.

TFS,
Rachel

[gail bisson]

Well done Marina!
Gail

[Jim Crosswell]

Congratulations Marina! I like the moment of family life you captured here.

[Shawn Zierman]

Love the warmth and harmony of colors in the image. I also dig that neither owl is looking at you. Beautiful!
Congrats on the cover.

[Ashleigh Scully]

This is great, Marina!

Congratulations on the magazine cover, too.

Ashleigh

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you everyone for all the nice comments! Having my image chosen for this particular cover meant a lot to me, and your words do as well!

[Robert vanMierop]

Nice moment with a major cute factor. Congrats on the cover. ('Saw a nice image of yours in a certain camera store in Orlando the other day.)

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you Robert. I finally had a chance to see that image up on the wall at that store myself! :)