Short-eared owl, arctic Alaska. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS, 1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800
Over the years of travel across Alaska, I’ve watched many short-eared owls hunting and flying over the tundra landscape. They are artful flyers, often visible in the treeless environment in which they roam. On a trip last week however, I had the first really good opportunity to photograph an owl, that did not seem to mind my close proximity. Furthermore, it made many funny twisting gestures with its neck as those yellow eyes seemed to pierce mine. I took the photo at about 10:00pm under the arctic sunshine, and a nice back-lit rim light surrounds the bird offering pleasant contrast. It is a tight frame in the landscape orientation but by the time I switched to vertical to give more room above the bird’s head, it lowered it’s neck and I much prefer this inquisitive stance.
Short-eared owl almost, but out of focus. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS w/1.4x, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800.
For those who can appreciate the world of “almosts” in photographing wildlife, here is a shot that I so wish was in focus. It was a hopeless grab shot effort, and would have been quite nice if my focal targeting had been accurate. All in all, I captured some nice images of birds that were not only new to my eyes, but also got some good images of a variety of birds that I’ll be sharing in future posts, including the amazing King Eider.
What a great picture! Yes, those yellow eyes are looking right at you! Is it OK to describe a wild bird as cute?
Great shots patrick, always a neat opportunity when you get to watch an owl. They are such strange and expressive birds. On a side note, Corbis images just sent out an email with an image of a cropped owl face much like the first photo.
Hi Patrick,
That first shot of that short eared owl rocks-love that icy owl stare. As to the blurriness of the owl in flight-welcome to my world-lol. Almost 2 weeks ago my wife & I were up on Mn north shore for a little vacation.As we were driving along early evening around 8pm central we saw a Red fox alongside the highway with a freshly killed chicken(big rooster) I was going about 55 and had to really hit the brakes and then turn around in hopes of getting a pic as he was still alongside the highway but not for long as two noisy trucks with trailers rolled by and he retreated into the woods. I got out of the car to see if I could get a pic of him but he saw me coming & retreated out of sight (crap). It would have been a great shot but oh well maybe next time.
Morning Patrick: Another great, unique image! The facial expression just about looks comical, like he’s thinking “and just who are you here to see?” The slight out of focus image reminds me of my attempt this past weekend to get a proper, sunlight exposure of 1 of the pairs of Wood Ducks in my creek bed. Walking along the tall grass when 1 pair exploded about 3′ from me. Trying to gain composure when your heart’s in your throat doesn’t make for a cover shot. The 200mm IS II lens can’t make-up for me shaking…
Fantastic portrait of the owl! This is my favorite species of owl to see, although I have yet to have such a personal encounter as this!
Pat, Erik and Vivian,
Thanks, those owls are so cool. I was so happy to have that fun encounter.
Bruce,
Nothing like the club of almost opportunities. We all have them I guess.
Chuck, I’ve seen many red foxes with ptarmigans or hares in their mouth, but not the rooster. Someone was unhappy about that I’m sure, and it was not the fox!