Burrowing Owl

[Erich Stevens]

There is a burrow close to one of the roads that takes me to a nearby relative's house, so I have had the pleasure of driving by this owl family a couple of times a week for the last several months. Once I saw as many as three chicks standing by the burrow entrance, but for the longest time I have seen only one. Yesterday I finally got a chance to park the car, setup the tripod, and shoot for a while. This is one of the parents. Junior wasn't there.

I regret that I did not have a backup camera with shorter lens, because I missed out on a very unusual burrowing owl image. This parent, alarmed at first with my presence, did the bob and weave thing on his fence post perch, then took off straight toward me before I could back up (I was about 30ft. away). When he had closed half the distance between his perch and me, he shot up about 20ft. over my head and hovered there for 3 seconds to check me out...with beautiful outstretched wings and a penetrating yellow glare. Then he (or she) perched again and was unconcerned with me the rest of the time. These little guys don't fly much during the day, so I knew it was a very unique opportunity missed. Argh! But I am happy with what I did get.

This image was taken at about 9 AM with a Nikon D80, 300mm + 2x, ISO 400, 1/1000, f/5.6 I think (it's a manual lens). BG is a grassy field. Cropped a bit all around, sharpened the eyes, boosted the contrast and saturation.

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Piercing stare. Neat BG and love the overall pose of the Owl. Looks a little bit soft on my monitor, but I'm not sure, as I've been oversharpening my images. Nice observation too. Congrats.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the stare, pose and BG and would sharpen the bird more. Too bad you couldn't photograph it hovering.

[Erich Stevens]

Thanks for the comments so far. Here's a repost after another pass of sharpening. You know, I am generally unhappy with my 2x teleconverter so far. My 300mm f/2.8 is of the best quality yet the 2x softens the image way too much for me. I plan to get rid of it and go with a 1.4x. I'll lose some focal length but gain a stop and hopefully much improved sharpness.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the pose and eye contact Erich. Your repost is slightly better. What settings are you using for sharpening, with regards to % - radius - threshold

[Erich Stevens]

What settings are you using for sharpening, with regards to % - radius - threshold

100/0.8/0

Think it needs more?

[Stu Bowie]

I use 125/0.4/0 and sometimes use smart sharp instead of USM. Its a matter of playing with the % slider, as long as you dont get the over sharpening look ( crispy bits)

[Milan V]

The pose and dof is really good.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

GReat work Erich. Like the repost very much! well done mate. Must be great to see these endearing species.

[Harshad Barve]

nice shot Erich, repost works wll her , lovely HA, BG and expressions
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Killer one, Loved the Pose and eye contact... The repost works well, congrats...

[Daniel Belasco]

Another beautiful shot.
Like others it is soft. I use canon but hate the 2x. I've used it once in 6 years! Agree on the 1.4. On my 500 with and without the 1.4 it's hard to tell. Love that 500. Some nikon users get the canon 500 and the less expensive xti or whatever just to use the 500.
I won't argue brands as I used nikon for 30 years.