Urban Owl

[Troy Lim]

The night light source always attracts this pair of owls. They come in to feed on the many moths and insects that are attracted to the light. Screech Owls in very urban areas have gotten use to hunting near house lights and street lights. This pair has nested in the same urban area for many years and are often seen hunting around the house during nesting season.
An additional light source was added about 20 feet away from their favorite perch at 5 o'clock position to attract insects and other prey. Camera and flashes were setup to the left of the path. The pair came down and hunted near the light a few times that evening.
It was an amazing experience to witness them catching prey in midair.
7D2, 16-35mm @ 16mm, 1/250, f/16, ISO1600, both flashes and camera triggered remotely.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Troy,

I wish to congratulate you for this image, I have been toying for some time with the idea of capturing the nightjars coming to drink from our swimming pool every night but it seems like such a challenge, so I have been postponing doing so...

This is well exposed and so much detail in the feathers, the pose is awesome and those eyes quite mesmerising, beautiful image and great PP work, love the way the subject pops from the dark BG - just wonderful, love your work, thank you for sharing:)

Kind regards,

[Troy Lim]

Dear Troy,

I wish to congratulate you for this image, I have been toying for some time with the idea of capturing the nightjars coming to drink from our swimming pool every night but it seems like such a challenge, so I have been postponing doing so...

This is well exposed and so much detail in the feathers, the pose is awesome and those eyes quite mesmerising, beautiful image and great PP work, love the way the subject pops from the dark BG - just wonderful, love your work, thank you for sharing:)

Kind regards,

Gabriela,
Thank you for your comments. A lot of prep work have been put into this project. My friend Mark and I have put up natural man made palm nest boxes around the area for the last year few years. To be successful, in our case, we spent more time observing the flying/hunting pattern of the pair. For example, estimating the interval once it brings in a prey and when it would leave the nest to when it returns, what it would do before heading into the cavity etc. Of course, it is nature, often time, just when you think you have their hunting/feeding battery down, they would throw you a curve ball to mix things up. It is a lot of waiting. Understanding their behavior is probably 90% of it. The others 10% is technical aspect and most importantly WAITING game.
I hope this helps.

[Marina Scarr]

This is definitely one of your best, Troy. What an impressive and unique image, and you obviously put a lot of work into it and you have taken the time to study the species. Love the details, wing position and that dark BG. I might consider a tad more sharpening on the feathers around the beak.

[Troy Lim]

This is definitely one of your best, Troy. What an impressive and unique image, and you obviously put a lot of work into it and you have taken the time to study the species. Love the details, wing position and that dark BG. I might consider a tad more sharpening on the feathers around the beak.

Marina, thank you.
I have to give credit to Mark. His knowledge on this species was the key that I was able to get these shots.