My trip to the mountains last weekends didn't looking for owls didn't produce anything. So here is a shot from last summer. I love the Ceanothus plants along the trail near my home. I think the small leaves and the fruits create very interesting perches.
Nikon D850 500mm PF
1/1000s f/5.6 ISO 1600
HH
Processed with C1 Pro, PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat image and sharpening in PS.
I love the soft colours, great delicate perch, beautiful BG. Perfect head angle too. I suppose the fg oof branch overlapping the tail tip is bad luck, but overall this really is a sweet image.
Sharif, I really enjoy Scrub Jays. We have them here most of the year in Colorado.
Perched on the shrub with leaves is quite nice IMO. but if a bummer the blurred one over the tail.
Otherwise the colors and comp are pretty solid. I might play around with the mid tones just to see if any tweaking could make it pop more but I'd take this one as is also.