Mommy Turn to Feed the Chicks

[Loi Nguyen]

I had posted an image of a male Burrowing Owl feeding a chick here recently. He worked tirelessly from dawn to dust to feed the 3 hungry chicks. Near the end of the day, he went across the road to feed himself and turned over the duty to his partner. The Mamma Owl would catch a prey with her talons and then flew to her favorite perch here right in front of the nest to transfer the prey to her beak and then flew into the nest. So, all I had to do was to train the camera on the perch, knowing she would make a stop there before taking off with a prey in her beak. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to catch this image.

1DX
500f4 II + 1.4X III
1/4000
f5.6
ISO-1600

Added a sliver of canvas on the top, cropped bottom and right.
RAW conversion in DPP
Levels, Curves, minimal PP.

Appreciate your comments.

Thank you

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, based on the techs, I guess you wanted a higher SS to nail the flight, rather than you fighting light. The light does look harsh IMHO and creates some quite strong shadows & highlights. If this isn't a huge crop then the IQ should be a lot better, with depth & detail. You might want to review which 'Case' you are using and also refine the tracking etc within that setting as I've found it quite helpful? Personally I might beef up the FG a tad, looks a little light. I quite like the pose, but you got the owl with food which is a nice bonus. A nice little project in the offing I hope.

Be nice to know how you can tell the sex of this species, as both male & female sit on the nest with our LO's creating a slight headache is spotting who's who.

Good luck.

TFS
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Hello Loi, never been very good at catching birds in flight so I think you have done far better than myself .The light does look a bit harsh and I think Steve as already pointed out the Tec details which looks like good advice but well done for what you did get I would be pleased with it.

Keith.

[Daniel Cadieux]

You made the situation work well for you by studying the behaviour pattern...well done. Neat pose. Good BG and the "perch" looks alright, but I like the suggested tweaks by Steve. I'd also be tempted in adding a little bit of red or magenta as I find the image a tad on the greenish-yellow side of things.

[Loi Nguyen]

Steve, thank you for your helpful comments as always. These guys are quite fast and I was a nanosecond Kate with the AF here. Can't say I have figured out which case works best for a quick take off yet as I don't quite have enough controlled experiments! Here in sunny California, the male colors tend to be faded more than the female due to long exposure to the sun. Not sure if that helps you in the UK! I spent 2 days with this little family in May. The male owl started hunting shortly after sunrise and kept on until near sunset. Mom and the chicks ca,e out of the burrow a couple of times during the day. Then he went off to hunt for himself and the female took over. The sun here in Southern California near the Mexico border can be quite intense. This shot was taken within 1 hour of sunset when the sun suddenly came out of a could. It wasn't that hash actually. I think the lack of details came from the off focus.


Daniel, the out of camera image had a lot of red and magenta. I tried to balance it but went may be a little too far the other way. I tried but couldn't find a mid gray to balance it, so it was just eye balling work here.

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, might be worth asking Arash or Doug B to see if they have any hints & tips for BIF with the 1DX?

[Loi Nguyen]

[QUOTE=

Be nice to know how you can tell the sex of this species, as both male & female sit on the nest with our LO's creating a slight headache is spotting who's who.

Steve[/QUOTE]

Steve, According to Wikipedia:

Males and females are similar in size and appearance, and display little sexual dimorphism. Females tend to be heavier, but males tend to have longer linear measurements (wing length, tail length, etc.). Adult males appear lighter in color than females because they spend more time outside the burrow during daylight, and their feathers become "sun-bleached"

I went back and check my images of the pair. I can't tell the difference in colors, but the female does seem to be slightly heavier and the male a little longer. The male spent far more time out during the day hunting than the female and that is for sure. I will post an image of the pair in a little while.

Loi