Northern Hawk Owl + Top 10 of 2019

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here's the last bird I photographed in 2019, a Northern Hawk Owl. This is not the infamous Schomberg owl that has been photographed extensively in southern Ontario (for those of you that know about this well-documented bird), but rather this is another individual, much closer to home. Here it had just dove into thick branched to catch a Meadow Vole and had flown back up to an eye-level branch. How convenient.

Did this image make it onto my "Top 10 of 2019"? You'll have to head over to my blog to find out if and where it placed!:

http://www.dancadphotography.com/top-10-of-2019/

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1600s., f/5.6, ISO 400, natural light, handheld, FF, a couple of small twigs removed around the edges.

[dankearl]

I have seen a lot of photos of the famous one, but I like the BG and eye level shot you have better
than any perched photos of the other one....
My favorite photo of the year of your is the Kingbird nest shot, like a National Geo special.....

[arash_hazeghi]

sweet frame Dan, I love the eye contact , details and the poor vole with both eyes visible! Did you have to remove shadows from his left eye, in a perfect day he would have a perched a bit farther from the vertical branch but I take this any day

TFS and happy new year!

[Aditya Sridhar]

Another Dan Cadieux stunner - (yawn) what's new? Not a great start to the year for the poor vole! I agree with the positives already mentioned. Personally, I would dodge the slightly darker branches in the background on either side of the bird as they draw my eye slightly, but if I got an image like this, I'd consider retiring

[gail bisson]

I am too jealous to type...Haha!
Love the subject matter and the eye level view.
The fact that you can see both eyes on the vole is also excellent.
BG looks great as these type of environments are usually very messy.
Good one Dan!

[Bill Dix]

Great look at an Owl that I long to photograph. The Vole with eyes visible is icing on the cake.

[John Mack]

Such awesome looking owls. Great you can see the eyes on the vole. The lichen on the perch is another plus. Love those eyes.

[Dorian Anderson]

I've only seen this species once - in upstate NY 12 years ago - and it's been on my most-wanted photo list since I started shooting in 2011. I am envious of this fine shot, and the prey item really makes it stand out from others.
The lighting and eye contact are perfect, and I like that we can see the feathered foot next to the prey. A super image

I also enjoyed you Top 10, the Stilt Sandpiper being my favorite. Also glad to see I can still identify a LEYE from the silhouette! The beaver and muskrats were a lot of fun as well.

[Mike Poole]

Another great shot Dan, especially out in the wild, and not a clean set-up shot. Interesting to look at your favourites, thanks for all the work on BPN again in 2019

Mike

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks gang!

Hey Arash, yes, I forgot to mention that about 1/3 of the left part of the owl's left eye (our right) was lightened.