Snowy Owl and dogs
An unexpected threat. I was quite worried when I saw these two go after the owl, as he had his back turned away from the dogs. Dogs are not allowed on the beach and are not allowed off leash anytime, but no one polices in the winter. The dog owners were oblivious. This is a large crop, posting for the story telling interest.
1/1000, f4, iso3200
Canon 1dx, 600f4 + lowered rrs tripod
An interesting story indeed. I love the pooch poses and postures.
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What a bummer.
We have the same problem with people not understanding that they cant let their dogs run in a wildlife area. Im a dog lover but you need to understand what your dogs impact is on the animals in a protected area. TFS
Interesting story. Did you say anything to the dog owners?
Gail
Interesting image and story.
Great flight shot in its own right Grace ! I persoanlly feel a crop without the right hand dog could be worth looking at too.. Dogs are not the problem -its the owners.
Interesting story I agree. I think some around here would have "spoken" to the owners !!
Cheers
JR
Very interesting shot, I ike the dogs in the background, I think there might be a slight blue cast on the owl.
Hi Grace, great flight pose from the snowy, and the brown dog seems to have a really naughty look about him/her. Some people dont really care how much you tell them off, they are just interested in their own world, and couldnt care about others.
I have many more in this series, with one dog and two. I was unable to get the attention of the people. This was a large crop, I was far away, and they could not hear me due to the breaking waves of the ocean and wind. There was one man with another dog who saw the owl and immediately leashed his dog. Interesting tidbit, a dead snowy was found the next day just a short distance to the west of where this incident occurred. There may be a blue cast on the owl, but it was after dark and everything looks blue for a while.
This is a wonderful shot, Grace. It really tells the story and fits right into the dialogue taking place on the NJ birders' listserv and elsewhere about disturbances to these beautiful birds. (Not to mention the Port Authority shooting Snowies at JFK.) I've also witnessed unleashed dogs not far from Snowies at Sandy Hook, against the regs, but nothing as dramatic as this. Well done. The black lab puppy(?) on the right looks like he's having fun; the left hand dog is a little more menacing. You might sharpen the bird a tiny bit.
An unleashed dog killed one of two Short-eared Owls at one of my favorite open spaces several years ago, and the remaining bird hasn't returned since.
Beautiful Owl .... Setting for it totally upsets me. I would have dropped the camera and had a discussion with the owners of those dogs.
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Awesome storytelling image. The only thing that could make it better would have been to have the owners in the bg somewhere holding the leashes :)
Thanks everyone...agree that the doggies are not the problem, they are just being dogs. I don't even like to see them chasing gulls, but an owl....shameful.
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