Short-eared Owl

Great natural setting and the morning dew drops on the grasses adds nicely Terry.
Centered comp works for me, nice & sharp.. Like that lifted gaze too!
BTW, I haven't one darn owl shot to call my own. Loan me yours?

Terry, it was tough finding a decent "non-post" shot for me, too. Most of the time they are on the ground here, the grass in the fields obscures them too much for a good shot. I also found that they cooperate more in the early morning like this. Looks like the owl was slightly damp as well as the grass. Good look back at you, and nicely detailed for 1/40. We just have to keep driving around and looking, as I had never seen any juvies before this year, either.

Nice catch Terry, My eyes are immediately drawn to it's eyes in the larger version.
I think you would agree that cropping and positioning of the subject in the frame is many times a matter of personal taste, and I think this is one of those times as I would probably take some off the bottom or top to make it less centered vertically. At first I thought off the bottom but when I view the large version and move the photo up and down I discovered off the top would probably work also, but that's just me and obviously it's very nice as is.

Nice capture - the Owl is a bit centred for me.

Very nice Terry. The owl looks good and I like the direct eye contact and all the dew/rain on the grasses. Given the preferred habitat of this species you were lucky to encounter one on the ground where it's not largely obscurred by vegetation. With the direction the bird is looking your composition works fine for me. Nice find!

Nice detail in this one Terry and how did you manage to get him on the ground without weeds in the way? However, you managed it...nice work! I am just ok with the center comp, but would probably prefer to see some taken off the left and a smudge off the bottom.

Terry,

I love the setting, the great look at the owl's intense eyes, the pose and the comp you used. Because of the head on position of the head the centered comp works for me.

The grasses seem taller this year than last and getting a clean shot of a bird on the ground has been challenging for me this summer. Nice work getting this owl in front of the grass.

nice one! the centered comp works fine for me with this pose, Terry. I like the pose and details. would love to see one of these.

Very nice detail in the larger version; flash work looks natural as well.

Sweet Terry. I like the dew on the grass and the way the owl is staring at the camera.

What a great looking image of this marvellous species

Nice one Terry - like the setting and head turn

cheers
Rob