This shot was taken just 3 hours after the snowy owl I posted yesterday. A good friend of mine called and said he had a good spot for a great gray , so i jumped in my pickup and drove 2 hours to his spot. A snow storm was going full blast by this time and focusing was difficult to say the least. It was by far the most productive day of bird photography I have ever had not counting Florida. I think it fits the winter theme pretty well.
1DIV , 70-200 f2.8II @150mm
1/2000 , f5.6 , iso 1000
nik detail extractor and smart sharpen on the bird only. cropped from bottom and right for comp. roughly 80% of original frame.
Great landing pose, with fully flared wings and tail. The snow storm really makes it. Too bad about the snowflake in the eye, but that's a very minor nit.
Great shot, I have experience of these guys in snow so you have my sympathy regarding interfering snowflakes! Nice details in the owl and the talons look excellent.
Pretty awesome to get both a snowy and GGO in the same day, and great shots of both in flight in nice scenes. I like the pose and details look good. Love the falling snow. TFS
wow, wonderful action shot about to nail the landing. it is so hard to get focus in heavy snowfall but you got it! I would remove the snowflake in front of the eye.