Long-eared Owl

Gallery: AvianPosted February 22, 2015194 views7 comments

This is a new species for me - a few months ago a "Long Island Wildlife" group was started on Facebook and it's been interesting to get an idea of what everyone is finding. I subscribe to the birding list-serve but the people on this facebook group aren't strictly bird watchers and mostly don't subscribe to the list-serve. So when someone posted a photo of this bird today in an area I was headed to I reached out to them and they graciously gave me a very general location.

Of course when I got there - there were 5 people visible from the road with the tripods so that made it much easier to find the bird.

Nikon D7100 300mm f4 + 1.7X TC HH
f/6.7
1/640s
ISO 1000
Shot vertical - cropped a bit off the sides due to very bright OOF vegetation

- Luke

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on February 22, 2015 at 9:41 PM

Very cool bird and equally interesting narrative. I would be tempted to take a little from the top to loose the sky filtering thru the branches. Nice find and a neat image.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on February 23, 2015 at 10:16 AM

Fine look at this owl, Luke. I especially like the context, showing good camoflage.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on February 23, 2015 at 2:26 PM

Sleepy Owl in it's habitat ,do like shots like this, well done getting this Luke.

Keith.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on February 23, 2015 at 2:34 PM

Thanks Keith - I agree. I saw other images that photogs took of this species and I really dislike the ones with the eyes open looking very alert. These guys are supposed to be sleeping

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on February 23, 2015 at 9:30 PM

Hi Luke, We see these birds here at times and this is pretty much the shot that you get. Nicely done.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on February 25, 2015 at 9:11 PM

I like how you framed this portrait with the branches Luke. Congratulations on the find!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 4, 2015 at 2:49 PM

I really like this shot, Luke. The OOF foliage to me is a plus. I enjoy natural shots like this even more than those that look more like studio portraits. (I stopped posting in Avian for a while after reading comments something like "just because you took a bad shot, that doesn't mean you have to post it" but apparently that's not a universal attitude.)

Congrats on the new species!

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments