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Home > TME Community > Share Your Work > Wildlife > Not easy to be an owl
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Not easy to be an owl
Started December 29, 2011 @ 12:16am by RickT
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RickT
Posts: 1,870 |
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| Not easy to be an owl | December 29, 2011 @ 12:16am | Looking out the window of my house this morning, I noticed the silhouette of this Great Horned Owl in the willow tree. I quickly got my gear together and went outside to get some pictures. It was happily napping in the warm morning sunlight.
Canon 40D, lens Canon 100-400mm zoom at 400, f/8, 1/320sec
A rather un-hawklike chattering call disturbed the owl's nap. This immature sharp-shinned hawk had also spotted the owl and was taking exception to the larger owl intruding on its hunting territory. It made two swooping passes and chased the owl to a tree further from my house. Here the hawk gazes across the space separating its tree from the owl.
f/8, 1/320sec, cropped and enlarged
The owl regarded the hawk from its new perch. I need to point out that this shot is cropped and enlarged significantly from the original. It was only when I got home and examined the pictures on the computer that I saw that the owl's right eye was blind. Did one of the many birds that mob owls actually connect with the eye, or was it lost to a branch during a midnight mouse pursuit? It appears that there is superation or scabbing around the eye, so the damage is probably recent.
Finally yielding to the hawk, the owl prepared to fly off. A second after this shot, it took flight and left my area.
RickT
Boulder, Colorado
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwteichler/
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Wes
Posts: 8,976 |
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| December 29, 2011 @ 1:58pm | Great opportuity and story, Rick. As the saying goes, "as wise as an owl", these animals do have that look of wisdom about them. Nice moment when the hawk stopped by, too.
Wes |
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| December 29, 2011 @ 2:29pm | Rick, your narrative is always interesting and informative. We don't usually get to witness the difficulty faced by wildlife except for the occasional remnants of someones dinner. It's sad to see the injury in the owl and can only hope it will survive in spite of it.
What never ceases to amaze me is the quality of your images even after a heavy crop. I'd be happy to get that even without cropping. |
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RickT
Posts: 1,870 |
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| December 31, 2011 @ 2:06pm | Thanks for the comments, Wes and Marianne. Marianne, I probably crop and enlarge too often, but it's a habit that started with my macro photos where the native magnification of the lens and sensor was never quite enough for my taste. As an aid on these shots, they were all taken with a firm tripod and a cable release to minimize camera movement. That helps a lot when you begin to enlarge small sections.
RickT
Boulder, Colorado
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwteichler/
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RickT
Posts: 1,870 |
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| Aaarrrggghh! Jim, me boy! | December 31, 2011 @ 2:18pm | Now this is the bird that should be perched on the pirate's shoulder, not some pitiful parrot suitable for a Monty Python skit! It looks like Kirk Douglas in The Vikings.
When photographed only from its left side, though, it's still a handsome bird. I hope the lack of stereo vision doesn't hurt its hunting to the point of starvation later this winter.
RickT
Boulder, Colorado
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwteichler/
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Don Fischer
Posts: 290 |
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assignment
Community Assignment #53
Picture Window
Due Date: September 16, 2011 |
Have you heard about the Backyard Shots Photography Guide "Street Portraiture with CraigTanner"?
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