When I arrived on the Long Island beach there were 6 others photographers set up facing a dune. I spotted the owl from the distance and walked behind the photographers who were about 100 feet from the owl. I had observed the direction the owl was facing and that was into the wind so I continued till I had the wind at my back as I was confident this would be the direction the owl would take off and possibly fly. After I planted my tripod, I adjusted my exposure and the owl started to move around and I got ready for it to launch which it did in less than a minute. I caught the second photo as it passed me. It landed on the top of a sand control fence, an ugly spot and I will not share the photos of it on the fence yet a little while later it blasted off again and I captured the owl in bright sun with a dark cloud in the background.
After it blasted off it landed on the walkway railing it was on the other day and with the sun setting into clouds I headed home looking forward to seeing my photos on the big screen.
DivineFocus wrote:
That third shot is really nice, Morris.
With that many photographers around and the bird moving that much it may be feeling pressured.
Thank you Dan. Sadly I feel this owl is stressed as it dose not appear to have adapted to the high human population in the area it has moved into. That was a very small turnout of photographers with 12 during the week and 50 to 100 photographers and birders on the weekend and holidays. There are also many that stole this beach. There is a preserve about two miles away where people are not permitted and this individual would do much better there. Most of the snowy owls in the area quickly adapt to humans and go about there busyness hutting and show no signs of stress when people are 50 feet away yet this bird is clearly flushed by anyone getting to 75 feet and I've witnessed this a few times. I'm hoping it either moves or adapts. There are two other owls in the area that seem to have adapted to people.
Thanks for sharing your shots of the snowies, there great. We have a couple in my area, but I haven't been able to get pics as good as yours. I hope you will keep posting more.
