Burrowing Owl Chick winking

[John Hawkins]

Taken on Easter morning in Cape Coral on Mowhawk Blvd. I used my Sony A100 with a Sigma 50-500mm Lense. The data=f/8, 1/1600, +0.7 ev, ISO 400, 500mm. C & C's welcomed. Thanks for looking, John

[Randy Stout]

John:

Cute little guy! Generally good exposure, maybe just a touch hot in the whites on the lower face. The light looks like it was fairly harsh. The angle of view was good, always a compromise on these guys because of their habitat. The bird on the left is a bit distracting. If possible, a step to your left might have gotten rid of the second bird in the frame, although I don't know what else was to your left!

The background is a bit noisy and busy as well. Can't do too much about the busy part, thats where they live! You could reduce the impact of it by selectively darkening and blurring the background a bit more.

I would try another round of USM on the bird to sharpen it a bit more, esp. the eye, which is what everyone looks at to gauge the sharpness of the image.

How old would you say this chick is?

Thanks for sharing!

Randy

[Fabs Forns]

Well exposed in spite of the harsh light. As mentioned, the BG is what it is. Very cure fella, shame on the shadow in the open eye.

[Jory Griesman]

I don't need to add anything to the other comments, but would like to thank you for providing a street where the little guy's burrow was located. I suppose many of this forum's readers know Cape Coral is great for burrowing owls, but it's nice to know where the new chicks are. Thanks.

[John Hawkins]

Randy, I think these chicks are 2-3 weeks old. Last week they were just puff balls.