Burrowing Owl

[David Salem]

I had a great time with a family of Burrowing Owls for about 4 years. The field was right at the end of my block and I could be sitting with the owls in literally 3 minutes.
I used to bring my son and wife with me on summer evenings and sit in the truck and watch the babies interact with their parents and each other.
Fortunately quite a few friends and BPNers had a chance to come out and visit the owl family.
When the babies poked their heads out of the burrow for the first time, there was uncle Dave waiting for their arrival.
They were so tame they would literally land a foot from my truck and look up at me.

Inevitably the encroachment of mankind ruined my little oasis. In the beginning we had three pairs with a total of 20 owls in a small 3 acre field.
At the end, it was only the original male, Shredder, calling every evening looking for a new mate to no avail.
After a month of calling on his own, he left the field for good and the motorcycles and dune buggies took over the field. Like anything in nature photography, it only lasts for a short while.
I was very fortunate to have 4 years with these guys.
Here one of the babies leans over in anticipation as she sees daddy coming back with a bug.

1DX---600mm---f8---ss1/2500th---ISO640---HH from truck@6:30pm---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input.

David

[Tim Foltz]

Dave, great pose and subject. Thanks for letting me shoot with you here before the demise.

Unfortunately the human encroachment is getting worse and sadly it's due to a lot of photographers that are in clubs and more worried about the social aspect of the club. With little or no regards towards nature or fellow photographers, at least here in Southern California. As soon as something is found it's posted on social media and phone calls are made and the area is mobbed and in very short time the subjects are chased away and the environment is trampled or trimmed for a better photo op for a few over zealous photographers. I have even tried to explain the consequences to these individuals and they will point-blank tell me they don't care.
Enough of my tirade, it's just been a sore subject with me in the last few years.

-Tim

[David Salem]

Tim, thanks for the comment.

I don't have quite the same situation as you do with aggressive and oblivious photographers, but I do sometimes see it. I hope that we can educate them in the subtleties of ethical and conservative wildlife photography. It's definitely not all about the shot.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful little Owl, David. Thank you for sharing. In Florida the same problem exists for out Burrowing Owls, the hand of man intervening to chase them out. The Burrowing Owls in Florida love vacant lots of land within housing developments. As long as the lot is vacant the owls are there year after year. When it gets built upon for another house the owls habitat is destroyed. The State of Florida does have protections to mitigate the damage but it is an imperfect system and the owls suffer. You must have been heartbroken experiencing and seeing what you describe.

[David Salem]

Thanks Joseph for your comment.

Sorry to hear about your owls in Florida. Getting tougher for all wildlife to sustain around mankind.

Yes I was heartbroken to have lost such a cool opportunity to sit and observe this beautiful owl family.

[Isaac Grant]

Such a nice shot here David. The wing position, the color palette, the details are all top notch. And against an excellent background. I am going to Florida in a few weeks to visit family/friends and am hoping to find some of these guys. Used to have a spot many years ago but it is very far away from where I am staying now.

[arash_hazeghi]

Remember these guys and miss them, certainly some of best frames of the BO's were there too bad they went away but I am glad I had few opportunities to photograph them!

[Mike Poole]

Great pose David, glad you got to spend the time with them - I had an hour a couple of years back with them and they are great little characters.

Mike

[Jonathan Ashton]

I really like the shot great pose and details.
My only and tentative suggestion would be to consider making the crop a little less tight, I am guessing you definitely preferred this shape as opposed to 3:2 ratio.

[Kirk Benson]

Wow David, what a terrific capture. Color and detail are superb, and I love the wings up position and your composition. Masterfully captured and processed... congrats.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments

[David Salem]

I really like the shot great pose and details.
My only and tentative suggestion would be to consider making the crop a little less tight, I am guessing you definitely preferred this shape as opposed to 3:2 ratio.

Jon, I was going to post both frames that I processed but I only posted the square one. Here is the 2x3. Not sure if anyone likes it better.

Thanks

[John Whaley]

It is a beautiful image. Lighting and bg just about perfect. I like the look of anticipation on the face.

[Jonathan Ashton]

David I would go for the 2:3!!

[keith mitchell]

David it's a great looking image I particularly like the softness natural look of the breast feathers,think the repost is the one for me.

Keith.

[Rahul Sachdev]

what a lovely image and the connect with the bird makes it that much more meaningful. I hope we humans learn to co-exist soon!

[David Salem]

Thanks guys for the comments and the input.

Jon, I think your'e right, the 2x3 is the way to go as it is still tight enough to show the nice feather details but gives more space for her to look into. Thanks again

[Frank Schauf]

Superb shot! Excellent pose, great background, and very nice details.