Owl Season 2015

[squirl033]

stopped by Stanwood myself this afternoon, on the way back from a disappointing trip to the Nooksack... did manage a few shots of the owls for my trouble. here's a shorty in some nice light... 7D, 400mm, 1/2500 @ f/7.1 - this is about a 50% crop...

 

[squirl033]

here are a couple of one of the long-eared owls with a vole it had caught. the sun was just setting, gave everything a beautiful ruddy hue... 7D, 400mm, 1/320 @ f/5.6. hardly any crop on these two...

 

[Joemeche]

I've named my Barred Owl buddy Waldo because he always challenges me to find him.
I suspected he was up high in a certain group of trees this afternoon, but I couldn't see him. So I called him and he flew right down to me....and perched ten feet away.

 

[landscapes&birds]

Rocky, those are some incredible photos of the long-eared owl in some great light. A nice catch for both you and the owl!

 

[squirl033]

Rocky, those are some incredible photos of the long-eared owl in some great light. A nice catch for both you and the owl!

thanks! this was my first visit to this spot... i'm sure it won't be the last!

 

[Bill Anderson]

Rocky, those are some incredible photos of the long-eared owl in some great light. A nice catch for both you and the owl!

Ditto from me. From the posts I have read on Tweeters, the long-eared owls sleep in the foliage during the day and emerge shortly before sunset, which does not make for easy photography.

 

[squirl033]

Ditto from me. From the posts I have read on Tweeters, the long-eared owls sleep in the foliage during the day and emerge shortly before sunset, which does not make for easy photography.

thanks, Bill... that's just about when this little fella came out. my poor li'l ol' 100-400 was badly outclassed, and for most shots, wasn't nearly long enough, but i did manage to get within about 20 feet of this little guy while he was "caching" a vole for a future snack, and the light turned absolutely beautiful. really shows how perfectly the owl's feathers blend in with tree bark for camouflage, too! he was smaller than i expected, which made him harder to see, as well...

 

[squirl033]

here's another of the long-eared owl, perching on a sign post... this one's cropped just a little off the top and bottom, and quite a bit off the ends to put it in vertical format. the owl was maybe 30-35 feet away. the light had mostly gone by the time i took this, had to crank up the ISO to 1600 to get the shot, but a pass through Neat Image did wonders... 7D, 400mm, 1/800 @ f/5.6

 

[Joemeche]

Ho-hum, another Short-ear.
Found this one on the Lummi Flats on the way home from a full day of kayaking on Drayton Harbor.

 

[Terry O]

Even more Short Eared shots from Eide Road, Stanwood, WA

I didn't manage any good in-flight shots, but fortunately one short-eared perched a couple of times for me. These were all taken today (Wednesday, Jan 21) using a Canon 5Diii and 500mm f4L with a 1.4x tele-extender. I was there from about 8:15am to 10:15.









The closest thing to an in-flight .....at least one I would be willing to post

 

[Bill Anderson]

Good shots, Terry. Aren't you glad I goaded you into buying that 5DIII.

I'm still thinking of going up to Eide Road Friday. The forecast is for rain, but it might keep the crowds down.

 

[Terry O]

Thanks, Bill, and yes, I am
Hopefully I can join you!

 

[squirl033]

went back up to Stanwood yesterday (1/21) afternoon, hoping for some nice light... wasn't bad at first, but the clouds got thicker and by 3:00 the light was pretty poor. still, i managed some decent shots with the7D and 100-400. here's one of the short-ears taking a break on a post near the road...

this little fella was working the marshland near the canvas-covered berm...

 

[squirl033]

someone spotted a long-ear in one of the thickets, so i made my way over and got a couple of shots of him as well...

 

[Terry O]

Nice work, Rocky. Wasn't able to find the long-ear in the AM.

 

[squirl033]

Nice work, Rocky. Wasn't able to find the long-ear in the AM.

thanks, Terry. it was probably napping in one of the thickets... from what i can tell, it usually doesn't make an appearance till about an hour before sunset.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Great shots of the log-eared owl, as it reportedly spends most of the day sleeping in the bushes.

I'll make it up there eventually. Terry and I were thinking about going up later today (Friday), but the forecast is for rain and high winds. My son's Special Olympics regional basketball tournament is in Stanwood on February 8th. I usually visit Eide Road and other local DFW areas during long breaks between games.

 

[JaniceL]

I wasn't going to look for my neighborhood Barred Owls this year, like I really need another picture of them LOL. But I couldn't help myself. So here are the first Barred Owls of 2015 taken with my Powershot SX50 HS

 

[Terry O]

Nice pairing, Janice!

 

[JaniceL]

Thanks Terry, I hardly ever see them together like this.