Northern Saw-whet Owl.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I had a thrilling encounter with this beautiful tiny owl (only 8" in height) recently. As you can see it was tucked inside an evergreen but I was able to find a bit of a "key hole" to photograph through. It was windy and snow from a nearby branch got blown to the ground - garnering the owl's attention below it for a few seconds...which in turn provided me with a nice pensive pose.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/4, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, full frame.

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image of beautiful owl in very artistic composition.Looks like is surrounded by fog.
I like the OOF leaves in the BG and the one on the face, nice expressions, colors and great details.
Seeing for the first time. Thanks Daniel Sir fir sharing.

Regards,
Satish.

[Seppo Harmala]

Cute little thing! Our equivalent species here in Scandinavia is Tengmalm's Owl. It's tame but very hard to find. Therefore always a great delight when it occurs. Little birds' warning calls usually give the best indication. Congrats!
Regards, Seppo

[Pao Dolina]

Inspiring image.

[John Robinson]

A Daniel shot from a mile off! !Different ,and it worked.
John

[Walker Noe]

Wow, really sharp, and at 1/200th. I like the natural vignetting. I would like to see the other eye a bit more in focus, but this image still works for me.

TFS
Walker

[dankearl]

I didn;t think much of the thumbnail and think the photo is terrific!
Mysterious and cropped just right in the frame.

[Ed Kelly]

Your hard work paid off. I had that same experience with a White Crowned Pigeon in Florida a few weeks ago. Well done.

Ed

[christopher galeski]

a different type of image from you Daniel,like it,nice detailwere itcounts,like the water drop,below itsleft eye.

[gail bisson]

What a great find and kudod to you for the field work.
I will be the odd woman out her...
I am not loving the vignetting- just a bit too much for my taste.
It is interesting how Dan finds the image "mysterious" but I find it too dark. Just love BPN for all the different viewpoints.
I do like the little water drop beneath the eye and the reflection in the eye.
Gail

[Gabriela Plesea]

This is superb, Daniel! I like everything about it, beautiful details where it counts, the vignette works wonders here - congratulations!

Warmest regards,

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys!

Gail, the vignetting is all natural and pretty much all I had to work with.

Just love BPN for all the different viewpoints.

Me too! Thanks for your honest assessment of the image!

[Mervyn Marsh]

look at those eyes!