northern hawk owl

[Jeff Nadler]

50mm F4 and 1.4, no flash, thru moon roof on bean bag

[Nancy A Elwood]

Jeff I just love owls and this species is really lovely! Did you mean 50mm or 500:D, I am sure 500mm or maybe the owl was on your moon roof,:D. Anyway, well done, but I would maybe put a little more space on the right. The eye contact is splendid!

[Joe Senzatimore]

I love it just as is. The eye contact is OUTSTANDING!!!!!!

[DustinFinn]

What great eye contact, really sweet image.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely colours and eye contact. I might trim a little from the top and desat the orange tones in the broken branch a little.

[Grace Scalzo]

Real sweet, Jeff.

[Milo Burcham]

Beauty, Jeff. I love the pose. As mentioned, the orange of the perch is a little overdone, and perhaps the eyes/bill a touch as well. It is a fine line with the striking yellow eyes of the owls. We are tempted to saturate them, perhaps to match the impact they had when we saw them, but it's easy to overdo it.

[LouBuonomo]

you have people thinking road trip !

[Jeff Nadler]

you have people thinking road trip !

Out of 8 hours, I had 25 minutes of owl on natural perch. the rest of day = power poles.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Out of 8 hours, I had 25 minutes of owl on natural perch. the rest of day = power poles.

If it is a sunny day, what works best, morning or afternoon? I'm considering a longish road trip, too. :)

[Jeff Nadler]

If it is a sunny day, what works best, morning or afternoon? I'm considering a longish road trip, too. :)

I was only there once so not an expert vs birders living closer. But my one experience was the bird hunted from 7:30 to 10, slept from 10 to 2, and resumed hunting til dark.

Let me emphasize that the bird's location is not a photographer's dream like being in Minnesota or Ontario . . it's on a street corner with houses and an orchard, lots of used utility poles, no evergreens, and a few scraggly hardwood trees. Weekends are filled with birders and locals. It is very frustrating to have so easy access to a gorgeous bird and limited ability to photograph it in a nicer setting. Thus, I only went once. My hope is the bird moves a bit away from houses!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks, Jeff. Good to know about the owl's snoozing habits. Power poles definitely don't make nice perches.

[Art Kornienko]

Hi Jeff, not sure what you meant about the steep angle of my shot, this angle looks a lot steeper? Actually, my shot wasn't really that steep, the owl was about l2 feet high, maybe it was because the NHO had its head turned backwards that gave the shot a funny look that you found distorted.