Wow Jim, I like everything about this one. Even with the back lighting you managed to bring out great detail on the front, especially those eyes. Very little noise for 1000 ISO. Excellent.
Nice! You had to be having a rush when the owl came in like that.
I find it very interesting that the GHO have so many color differences. Even in the local area here I notice a difference and often in those in the forest as compared to in the high desert.
Nicely done with balance of backlighting with frontal illumination.
I do appreciate the point that Mike made about the bg line cutting through the bird, but the lighting on the bird is so good that it dominates ones attention.
Hi Jim, Pretty nice!!! Great pose providing a fantastic view of the body and underside of the wings. The backlight on the wings is a nice effect. Good detail and sharp; very impressive for a 500mm at 1/250s hand held. Heck it would be very good for a tripod and a much faster shutter speed. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic pose, made even more dramatic by the back light. I assume this bird was coming to bait - one just doesn't get that lucky walking around! In any case it is a beautiful image resulting from careful planning.