Last Friday, my wife and I had the great fortune to find ourselves alone on a beach with this beautiful creature; not another birder or photographer in sight, at least at first. That gave me the luxury to spend maybe 20 minutes belly crawling into position behind a low rise in the sand, and another 20 minutes observing and photographing the bird. (Disclaimer: it was my wife that spotted it, as I was gazing after a flock of Snow Buntings. I told her I owe her dinner at the restaurant of her choice). The Snowy Owl (a 1st year male, I think, but possibly an older female), never showed any sign of stress except for a moment when a helicopter flew low over the beach, and again when eventually an uninformed photographer thought he could simply walk up to the bird, which ended my photo session. In fact, during almost the whole time, the owl had his eyes closed enjoying his nap in the morning sun, with an occasional yawn. This seems to be an irruption year for Snowies, or what some have called an echo irruption. There are at least a dozen of the species currently visiting the fair State of New Jersey. C&C always appreciated.
D7000, 700mm, ISO 400, 1/3200s @ f/6.3 manual. Flattened gitzo and mongoose.
Hey Bill, You did a good job of choosing your perspective. A beautiful bird, sharp, perfect exposure and pose. Bad luck in that the setting is a bit less than ideal.... Would all females have some black markings on the face?
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Bill it was certainly worth the crawl, I like everything about this although I have never seen a Snowy Owl in the sand it all seems to look right. Excellent image.
Thanks Artie. No, not the perfect setting -- I took what he gave me -- but a pretty typical beach scene here. I was just thrilled to get a nice look at him. All females have white faces. The 1st year female is more heavily barred than this. I'm told that it's difficult to distinguish between an adult female and 1st year male. Adult males are almost pure white. I also understand that in irruption years like this, it is the juveniles that tend to stray south of their usual zone. But since this is the first really good look I've gotten, I'm certainly no expert.
Very cool owl. Love the light you capture here and I am glad to read that your wife got a free dinner! you gotta love those ''photographers'' that ruin ones opportunities, good thing is that you had actually gotten some images by then!
Beauty bird , excellent image. Spot on exposure, excellent sharpness and details.
I'm afraid that they all will overshoot us here in Ontario and will end up in the Northern part of USA.
Great image. I might be tempted to clone out the lay down grasses on the LR.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. Alan, I had cloned out one errant stick from the right side, but hadn't thought about attempting the rest of the tangle on the right. I've had a go at it here. I thought it looked too clean, so I moved one element from the LS to the RS. I'm curious to know what everyone thinks.
Snowy Owl
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Originally Posted by Alan Murphy
