I've never had much luck approaching these guys around here. Nearly every one I've seen has been on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in the central part of the state, a truly incredible raptor spot in winter (and one very few folks ever visit in winter). Just for the heck of it, I counted raptors on a one-day December birding trip. The tally was over 50 Rough-legged Hawks, and a dozen harriers, half a dozen Bald or Golden Eagles, and several Prairie Falcons, Ferruginous Hawks, and Red-tailed Hawks. Also one Gyrfalcon (I've had up to 5 in one day on the grasslands), a merlin, and then there's always the chance of running into these guys.
Didn't that day, but had two on a short day trip right after the new year. The problem...Snowies always flush when you get within 100 yards of them here. This guy, however, flushed and went just over a ridge in an adjacent field and landed. I could just see the top of her head. I stayed low, crawling the last bit and popped my head and camera up over the ridge, and thankfully she was still there for this shot.
Canon 50D, 400 5.6L, ISO 200, 1/3200, f6.3, no flash. Trimmed a bit off all sides, primarily to get rid of a thin black strip of a bare field showing just above this crop.
Terry the effort you went to certainly paid off. I like the pose and the framing a lot. The grass on the left adds a lot of interest. The pose of the owl is good, but the strong side lighting hurt you a bit. I wonder if you could tone down the whites on the bird's left side and bring out more detail on the right eye?
Great angle, setting, eye contact and details. The light looks a bit harsh and I might try to lighten the bird's right eye and the part of the plumage that is not sunlit.
This sounds like an amazing place, hard to imagine to see so many raptor species in one area.
Terry, if this were mine - I've found a process to lessen this severe light and give you more detail. Try a combined (with linear) instead of normal raw conversion! I use Breezebrowser which offers it.
Snowy Owl
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