Snowy Owl With Grackle Breakfast

[Jim Fenton]

This was the last snowy owl I photographed this past spring on April 17th.

It had been perched in a tree and flew within 10 feet of me, pouncing on a grackle that watched as the owl approached.

The process was too close to photograph and the owl watched me for a moment and then flew off into the dunes. By the time I had relocated it, the grackle was pretty well consumed.

This image was created as the ow looked toward a harrier that was approaching from upwind of us in ealt morning light.

Nikon D300, 500VR, TC14EII, ISO 640, f 7.1, 1/800, NearuniWB, CW metering, +1 EV

[ramesh anantharaman]

Hey jim,

nice one here. In my humble opinion, i feel, the bird is a little over exposed. the iso could have been reduced a little along with aperture.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

That might have been the first encounter with the other species for both of them. I like the stare and would tone down the whites. They don't look overexposed but there is not much detail in some areas.

[Dave Leroy]

Interesting photo and story Jim. Good for you to track the owl down and get a very nice photo. Dave

[david cramer]

That must have been a wonderful experience. Wonderful eye contact.

[Aidan Briggs]

Ditto Axel, the whites look a tad bright. The setting is busy, but there is not much you could do about that.

[Grace Scalzo]

Really cool behavior image, completed by the feather on his chin. Agree on the lack of detail in some areas. If you're like me, you're already thinking of winter, our first one last year was seen on 11/18. I think you were a week or so ahead of us.

[Harshad Barve]

techs very well covered here and agreed , beautiful image , nice experience
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Loved that stare, good expo control just that little corretion as suggested by Axel, that feather near the beak put it on top, congrats..