Owlet Fledgling

Gallery: AvianPosted April 26, 2012127 views10 comments

This is one of the Great Horned owlets that I posted an image of last week. Last weeks posting showed it and it's sibling and while I have followed the nest activities since the eggs were being incubated, I wrongly estimated the fledge wouldn't happen for another week or two. A visit yesterday revealed both owlets in trees not far from the nest. While the other was higher up and obscured with branches, this little one presented a better POV and clear shot.
Owlet is 9 1/2 - 10 weeks old.

Larger image available, "Thanks for stopping"

canon 7D
canon 600mm f4.L IS USM + 1.4 TC
F/8 1/20 +0.5 ISO 400
an early am shot under cloudy overcast sky in a wooded area
auto window beanbag lens rest, cable, CS5, LR3, NIKs suite

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on April 26, 2012 at 7:56 PM

The background is a little distracting, but the owlet looks great. I have seen pre-fledged hawks that have fallen from the nest for whatever reason, that then walked a distance and crawled up into another tree. This one still looks a little fluffy to be flying, so I wonder if something like that happened. Nice image.

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on April 26, 2012 at 8:05 PM

Thanks for commenting Jim. Yes, I know the background is somewhat distracting, but you should have seen the original raw image. Their were several bright spots, very white, in the open cloud cover. eliminating the distracting spots was a challenge.

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 26, 2012 at 10:32 PM

Sweet, Craig. Wonderful to catch it out in the open like this and not a bad pov at all.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on April 26, 2012 at 11:11 PM

Fantastic!! How fun to be watching them since "egg-hood" and now seeing them successfully fledge. Nice work on this image in post-processing. The bg looks natural according to the setting and imho adds to the environmental/conservation value of the photo.

Sure wish I could've found 'em when I was there on the 24th... How much longer do you think they'll be around the nest, Craig?

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on April 27, 2012 at 12:21 AM

Thanks for your comments Dennis and Catherine.
Catherine- I don't know what to expect of these two but I would be surprised if they were still close by much longer. Someone else said they actually were out of the nest on tue. I didn't see them till wed and then another person said they were around today but obscured by lots for branches. Mom and Dad are close by in trees during the day, I'm sure still feeding them at night and will probably teach them to get away from people and up higher into the trees where they usually roost.

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on April 27, 2012 at 4:11 AM

Nice clean view of this photogenic youngster. Nice detail and alert pose. They seemed pretty sleepy when I saw them on Monday.
Sweet Portrait Craig!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on April 27, 2012 at 10:31 AM

So sweet. Love the perch. I think it needs to be brighter and warmed up a bit.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on April 27, 2012 at 4:22 PM

well initially i thought it was covered by snow. The BG: its a bit overcrowded to me, but i could understand it could have been problematic to clean it up. the owlet looks good, a bit dark but to me.

cheers, Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 28, 2012 at 3:30 PM

A great capture Craig. I would warm this up and brighten it a bit. Cool shot overall.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on April 30, 2012 at 9:58 PM

Nice job capturing the owl out in the open. I really like the eye contact in this image.

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments