Powerful Owl chick

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

In 2013 and 14 I was observing a nesting pair of these owls whose nest I discovered just before they lay eggs in 2013.

This is their single chick, born in June 2013, photographed on Jan 6 2014 at just on six months of age and several months after fledging. She was still trilling away, begging for food, with the parents busy trying to bring in her dinner.

If you're interested in hearing her trills, there is a little video here

Canon EOS 5DMkII
500/4L IS USM
Stacked 2x and 1.4x
Manual mode
Manual focus
ISO1600
f/16, 1/60th, 600EX-RT with beamer
Tripod and Wimberley Gimbal head
Very little crop only.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic image, very dymanic with excellent details. Lots of impact in this image.

[Grace Scalzo]

PS- Love the video as well. Nicely done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Cool! The offset composition adds to the quirkiness of this delightful individual. I enjoyed the video too :-)

[keith mitchell]

Excellent shot Akos,video is certainly worth a look.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice image and excellent video, Akos.

[William Dickson]

Very powerfull image Akos. Wow it's like the real thing, there in front of you. Great work

Will

[Joseph Przybyla]

Striking image, Akos. Beautiful bird, nicely shown. I watched your video also. Thank you for sharing.

[Lorant Voros]

I missed this one, Ákos. Perfect moment captured, nice detail and great use of the stacked converters. Nice video too...pretty amazing experience you had there.

[Diane Miller]

What a wonderful video to add to the story! I love the quirky expressions. Hope she got fed, but, really, don't kids ever leave home these days?

Amazing sharpness for stacked TCs and great flash power.

[gail bisson]

Loved watching the video! I thought you were using the word "powerful" as an adjective. Didn't realize that this is what they are actually called!
I am not a lover of flashed birds but this is pretty nice!
Lovely to see the open mouth and all that feather detail.
No one else has said this but I find the image to be a bit oversharpened- especially around the birds left wing.
I would love to see a full body shot,
Gail

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
Gail, you're right, probably could ease back the sharpening a tad. Also, the name Powerful is very apt. For its size, it is capable of taking a prey the same weight as itself, which most raptors just do not do. The males can be up to about 1.8kg and can take large possums or gliders.
Unfortunately, a flash is necessary for night photography or for photographing most roosting Ninox owls, as they usually roost in dark places so the images would look really poor without an artificial light source. I have plenty full body shots too. I usually get to this type of shot if the bird is comfortable with my approach and then I start going for different feel images.

[Marina Scarr]

Killer portrait and SO much feather detail here considering you were using stacked converters. Quite impressive. Wouldn't mind seeing a tad more space esp on top if you have it.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Akos! I like the details, exposure, open beak and video, TFS.