Some more Short-eared Owl Images

I've been concentrating on wintering owls lately and these Short-eared Owls are the toughest to nail. They come out at dusk, so a very high ISO is necessary to get any "clean" images. "Clean" is a bit of an oxymoron as higher ISO's make for a very "dirty" image. Lets break this down a little further for those of you who don't necessarily understand: See, when you boost the sensitivity of your image sensor by selecting a higher ISO, the image sensor is now able to record a fainter light signal. In my case: dusk. However, it is also true now that it will record fainter noise, where noise is any signal that is not attributed to the light from your subject. The increased sensitivity allows the image sensor to record more light signal and more noise. Shooting moving objects (in less-than-sunny skies) also requires a higher ISO so that your shutter speed is faster to freeze the motion.
Hope that makes sense...

This was my best shot. Luckily he was close enough to shoot at 300mm. but the ISO was way up there at ISO 2000. I NEVER shoot that high!

There were quite a few owls out, and they favored these poles to sit on, claiming temporary territories for their dinnertime activities.

This fella was captured "barking" his claim to his territory. Barking is the term used for Short-eared Owl calls. (click on this one to see mouth open)

Long-eared Owl

2012 is being very very good to me so far! All I have to show so far are my favorites--OWLS!!!!! This LEO was my second subject of the new year, coming in behind the Snowy! In third place is the Short-eared Owl which I shot a few hours after this guy! How can I top this? Easy: Saw-whet, Great Gray, Northern Hawk Owl, etc. Easy to list, not so easy to capture! (But I'll try...)

Snowy Owl Poses

Found my favorite snowy again!(Click on any photo to make larger)

The inital image of this shot just looked drab, so I jazzed it up accentuating the wind turbines and rolling cornstubble fields...

On top of a silo, she checked me out with those gorgeous yellow eyes.

It was fun to watch this lady watch birds. This starling made a few passes before moving on...

I liked the fringy hair silhouetted here.

Short-eared Owls

Let me preface this post with stating that these shots are not up to my standards, but given the subject matter and the gas/time spent attempting these shots, I am posting them anyway.

I was so excited to shoot these guys on a trip I took this weekend. I went to Nashville for a concert and thought on my way back I could get some birding in. A new friend of mine gave me directions to such a rare bird of prey that fit into my schedule perfectly. I found the location and waited...

I waited for quite some time, circling the area until the show began...
And when I say the show began, I mean "WHOA!!!! They flew out from every direction!
As you see in these shots, plenty went wrong in all of about 10 minutes of showtime.

My aperture was off, my dial was misaligned to manual and I had the 2x on for closer shots. Everything that could go wrong, DID!

The owl even landed for a brief moment in which I found opportunity to whip off the 2x, shoot straight 300 and of course, the aperture was on 6.3. The shutter lagged so much that the exposure was 1/20th sec at twilight! I felt like Charlie Brown...

I managed a few shots at 1/400 with the 300mm before calling it quits with the light draining to impossible...

There was nothing I could do to fix it now, so enjoying the show with my own eyes not behind a few pieces of expensive glass was thrilling none-the-less.

Now that the night was here, all I have been able to think about was how it all went horribly wrong and what I am going to do right, next time...

Snowy Owl--Up Close and Personal!!

Click on any photo to see much larger!

As you might recall, I had my first 2011 encounter a few weeks ago with a Snowy in Chicago at the lakefront with some pretty good success. This time was different!

I found this guy in a farm field a few days ago, prior to this particular photoshoot, but the owl was really far away, but I knew I would be back! I came back the next day under gorgeous sunny skies...

I found him perched on a pole barn, so I thought maybe I would knock on the owners door to get permission to photograph him. They agreed. Yay me!

I was able to pull my car around and shoot from my window, and when he didn't flush with my disturbance from about 75 feet away, I decided to try to step out (slowly and without eye contact) and take my chances...

These last 2 are severely cropped but I wanted to show you the spider on its face. BONUS!!

I was very lucky that he tolerated my intrusion, so I didn't approach much closer. I was able to set up my tripod, put on my Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS with the Canon 2x teleconnector and shoot from the only angle I had at 600mm, but with the crop factor of 1.6x, I was shooting 960mm. I will always take what I can get, and sidelighting is way better than backlighting in this case! What a day to find such a rare sighting, and to shoot so close! It was one of those awesome days that come pretty few and far between! Days like this are why I spend so much time doing what I do!

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Thank you guys for all of the support of this blog! I love doing it and appreciate you taking the time to visit!

Happy Holidays!

Whooping Cranes!!!!!!! ....and my Birthday!

Click on any photo for a better larger view of entire set of photos!

I had to create a post for my birthday, and what better a subject than the extremely rare Whooping Crane(s). Nine of these creatures flew in for a restover and have stayed for more than a week now, waiting for favorable southerly winds to retake the skies. (Note: These birds are NOT the juveniles that have already migrated with the help of Operation Migrations ultralight airplanes this year. They are migrating on their own.)

Did you know that there are only 105 whooping cranes east of the Mississippi River? And here I am lucky enough to put my lens on these 9!

They are clearly banded, and with some research I have found out that these guys are from the 2009 hatch at Necedah Wisconsin's Operation Migration. Here is what they said in 2009: "On July 21, 2009, 11 Whooping Crane chicks were transferred from ICF to the nearb Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) to make up the 2009 Direct Autumn Release (DAR) cohort. The DAR birds are initially isolation-reared at ICF and then at the Necedah NWR until the fall. All the chicks were wary of all the new sounds of bird life in the marsh, but adjusted well to the beauty of nature on the refuge. In September or October they are released on or near the refuge with older Whooping Cranes and Sandhill Cranes, from whom they learn the migration route."

(Best photo to view large! Check out the expressions on these guys tiffing!)

It is beyond comprehension how to feel knowing I am standing before these 9 birds and knowing that I am looking at just about 10% of the eastern population. I also found out that whooping cranes are 2nd on the top 10 endangered species list.

In 1937, fewer than 20 birds remained, all in a population that wintered in Texas.
Today, with efforts made to stop these beautiful creatures from becoming extinct,
there are about 400+ in the wild.