Mating Great Horned Owls

Ann McRae

Every winter we first hear the quiet hoo, hoohoo, hooo of the owls in late December or early January. We see them silhouetted in the tree tops behind our house, and occasionally see them fly by, always at dusk or daybreak. Years ago, I was lucky enough to find an adult and owlette in daylight.

Yesterday, with just a hint of light in the sky, I saw the owl and grabbed the 1.4TC and 300mmf4. i was able to get very close to him. Not long after, the female flew to the next treetop over, so I moved the camera to her, since there weren't branches obscuring my view. Much to my pleasant surprise, he decided to get into the photo too! :wink

So, these are simply documentary shots since handholding the 300 & tc, at f5.6 and shutter at 1/50, ISO 6400 really cannot produce a great photo, but I thought I'd share them anyway!

Mister:

Misses:

Landing:



Got a smoke?


ann

Snowgirl

How lucky for you to see this! Avian porno?

deb22

Documentary shots are just fine, It is the experience you share that makes it worth the look. BTW I like the tones in your medicine lake shot!!! I live just east of you and visit a lot of the same places as you on occasion. I'll keep my eye out for your dog if you travel with him.

Ann McRae

Snowgirl wrote: »

How lucky for you to see this! Avian porno?

Hi Ceci

Thanks! Yes, a bit voyueristic, but it was super cool to see them! I sure wasn't expecting it, but the sport photog in me just kept on hitting the shutter button!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Ann McRae

deb22 wrote: »

Documentary shots are just fine, It is the experience you share that makes it worth the look. BTW I like the tones in your medicine lake shot!!! I live just east of you and visit a lot of the same places as you on occasion. I'll keep my eye out for your dog if you travel with him.

Hi Deb

Kelso doesn't come on road trips, at least not farther than the in laws in Camrose. But my vehicle has SmugMug plates so if you ever see an Alberta SmugMug plate you will know it's me!

I see you've found snowy owls. That was my idea for today but the freezing rain has me staying home instead. Mind sharing where you've run across them? I was planning on heading toward Beaver Hill.

ann

Snowgirl

Ann McRae wrote: »

Hi Ceci

Thanks! Yes, a bit voyueristic, but it was super cool to see them! I sure wasn't expecting it, but the sport photog in me just kept on hitting the shutter button!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Hi Ann. Same as you - freezing icky rain is tending to keep me close to home. The back roads are sheathed in black ice so it's not safe to head out.

You'd think, with all of the coyotes we have here, I'd be able to catch some, wouldn't you? But no. I don't take Hoover with me either so he won't scare things off - but still...

Harryb

Excellent work Ann. You should consider a visit to Florida and try some daylight shooting with sunlight and everything.

Ann McRae

Hehe, thanks Harry. Daylight would be nice, although we've had nice mild weather AND the days are noticeably longer now too! I'm certainly not complaining as much as usual!

ann

Harryb wrote: »

Excellent work Ann. You should consider a visit to Florida and try some daylight shooting with sunlight and everything.