This will be the last owl pic for a while. I hope you enjoyed them. As some of you know, long-eared owls are not that easy of a subject. They prefer to hunt in very low light close to darkness. So shooting them in flight is almost impossible, at least for the gear i am using. On most outings i have spent with these owls in the past years, they only sometimes choose to rest on a pole before hunting. A lot of the times, they just fly off to the hunt from thick packed trees or bushes. If i see them doing that, i know the evening is lost when it comes to photography. So then i just sit and watch the show. Trying to understand their routines.
But every once in a while (and i have had this happen to me 3 times in 3 years, go figure), they land on a pole close to me and sit there for a few minutes before they start hunting. And this time i was lucky again. Since then, i have spent another week without succes. Either hunting too late, being disturbed by people, or other birds or just not hungry.
But when all pieces fall together, it gives such a rewarding feeling that all this time and energy was not for nothing.
Thanks for looking guys.
Cheers and stay healthy.
Marcus
p.s. None of these owls were baited, called or lured in any way. They are photographed from my car that i set up at a strategic point where i hope these owls will land and then just sit and wait. This last image has almost no editing done to it, aside from cropping and brought down a bit in the shadows. The sun was almost in the opposite direction.
From this morning - mom peregrine falcon. This is the first time I captured her in-flight solo. She doesn't fly out that much after the eggs hatched. Cross-posted...
Photo taken at 7:24 PM about 8 minutes before sunset.
Looking at the setting sun, sunburst, and backlit trees.
Tripod mounted Leica R 80-200mm f4 Vario Elmar lens set near 200mm and A7r.
ISO 100, f11, 1/10 second.
Exposure Corrected +0.39 Stops.
April 6, 2014
At the top of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, PA.
