western burrowing owl

Burrowing Owls draw me in

By Mia McPherson, on March 19th, 2013%

Juvenile Burrowing Owl looking right at me – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

Last week I spotted my first Burrowing Owl of the year, it was a distance away and I didn’t take any images of it but I had to do a wiggle dance in my seat because I was excited seeing one again. The adults are beautiful and the juveniles; well they draw me in.

Burrowing Owl juvenile looking at something in the distance - Nikon D200, f8, 1/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

Juvenile Burrowing Owls can look very serious and they can also appear rather funny, they are very animated and entertaining and they make fantastic subjects. Photographing them is a joy.

Can’t wait!

Mia

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And, my monthly post is up at BirdingIsFun.com, stop on by to check it out!

Burrowing Owl Surprise

By Mia McPherson, on November 20th, 2012%

Burrowing Owl in low light – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/80, ISO 1000, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

There are Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island; I’ve photographed them hundreds of times, but yesterday I spotted one in a location I had never seen one before. It was close to the road which made photographing it from a vehicle easy the problem was heavy clouds made the light low and my shutter speed slow. Making sure my exposure was right using my histogram I fired off bursts which increased the chance that some of the images in the bursts would be sharp. And it worked.

Burrowing Owl Portrait – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/60, ISO 1000, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

I liked the how the water behind the owl created a soft, pastel background, how the owl’s eyes seem to glow with the enlarged pupils and even though the setting is a little messy it all seems to meld together well.

The light did get better before the owl took off but we had moved and there was a stem in front of the owl’s face that was distracting, those images got deleted.

It was a nice surprise to find this Burrowing Owl yesterday, I hope ‘ll see it again.

Mia

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