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02-14-2018, 09:02 AM   #27556
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
It's been a while since I've share an image...

Here's one from this winter - my first ever encounter with a snowy owl!
I've lived here for 12 years and have yet to get a decent image of one. It took 6 miles of walking down the beach in single digit temps to find her; walking through the high tide in knee deep water making sure not to spook her off as I approached the dune.
I kept a distance and army crawled inch by inch, making sure not to disturb her.
Shot from about 75 yards away with a K-3ii + 1.4xTC + DA*300. Cropped a good bit too...

I was ecstatic on my walk back to the truck; I should have been smarter about staying dry... I definitely felt like any longer out there would have been creeping towards hypothermia.
Definitely took some time to warm back up before I could drive home.
Great story; Great shot.

02-14-2018, 09:05 AM   #27557
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
Here's one from this winter - my first ever encounter with a snowy owl!
Even in years when there are more owls around they are never predictable - I have done a number of trips looking for them and have only a couple of distant shots so far. Also getting the owl looking in the right direction with its eyes open is never a given. Recent research using tracking equipment has found that on Lake Ontario they go out over the lake at night hunting for roosting duck. That's a great shot, and we should be able to award hardship points as well!
02-14-2018, 09:17 AM - 4 Likes   #27558
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QuoteOriginally posted by jacamar Quote
Even in years when there are more owls around they are never predictable - I have done a number of trips looking for them and have only a couple of distant shots so far. Also getting the owl looking in the right direction with its eyes open is never a given. Recent research using tracking equipment has found that on Lake Ontario they go out over the lake at night hunting for roosting duck. That's a great shot, and we should be able to award hardship points as well!
Thanks!

The most fascinating part was... I was the ONLY one on the beach...
It was surreal - Usually these spots are littered with birders and rangers and photographers.

When I left, I walked around the backside of the dune and ran into someone from NPS who was setting traps to catch this particular bird for tracking and research.

There were 5 birds on the island this day, but this one was the only one without a tracker...
I'd imagine the other 4 birds had crowds of people around.

Two days later the park service caught her and attached the tracking device.

I feel honored to have had a moment in time with her and no one else around; AND to have captured this image before any humans had made physical contact with her (as far as I know).

...Now, she has a solar backpack GPS tracker on her
02-14-2018, 04:18 PM   #27559
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
Thanks!

The most fascinating part was... I was the ONLY one on the beach...
It was surreal - Usually these spots are littered with birders and rangers and photographers.

When I left, I walked around the backside of the dune and ran into someone from NPS who was setting traps to catch this particular bird for tracking and research.

There were 5 birds on the island this day, but this one was the only one without a tracker...
I'd imagine the other 4 birds had crowds of people around.

Two days later the park service caught her and attached the tracking device.

I feel honored to have had a moment in time with her and no one else around; AND to have captured this image before any humans had made physical contact with her (as far as I know).

...Now, she has a solar backpack GPS tracker on her
Great shot! The DA*300+HDTC on a K-3II is super for light nature kit...
I can imagine you making the approach, I do that often, not always with good results. Very happy you got it.
Wondering how would look a snowy with that device... never seen that before.
Again, wondeful shot with that soft light!

02-14-2018, 04:58 PM   #27560
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
It took 6 miles of walking down the beach in single digit temps to find her; walking through the high tide in knee deep water making sure not to spook her off as I approached the dune.
Well, now I understand why I've had no such 'luck'.
Congrats on a great shot--you certainly earned it!
02-15-2018, 02:07 AM   #27561
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
I feel honored to have had a moment in time with her and no one else around; AND to have captured this image before any humans had made physical contact with her (as far as I know).
Delighted that you shared with us both the experience and the image. It's an amazingly fine image from 75 yards away. Well done on all counts.
02-15-2018, 06:07 AM - 12 Likes   #27562
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QuoteOriginally posted by dadipentak Quote
Well, now I understand why I've had no such 'luck'.
Congrats on a great shot--you certainly earned it!
Oh, you'd be amazed how bad my luck is... This was a rarity!
And even still, I had some friends from the birding community laugh because they said just the day before they parked on the south end of the island, walked over the dune and there she was - less than 100 feet from their cars...

I'll still chalk it up as a win in my book though.
I estimated it would take a good 2 hours to find her, so leaving before sunrise played to my advantage.
By the time I shot my first frame, the sun had just broken the horizon 30 minutes prior - the conditions were just right an I was smack in the middle of he golden hour with no one else around.

I stopped shooting for a few minutes and just took it all in.
Utter silence on the beach, just the sound of lapping waves.
A light on-shore breeze and golden sunlight.
Just me and the owl.

To think in a few months that same spot will be riddled with hundreds of umbrellas, flip-flops, coolers, chairs, surfboards, and tourists from afar...


I often say I live in a bipolar town.

---------- Post added 02-15-18 at 08:09 AM ----------

Here's one more from that same day:
K-3ii + 1.4xTC + DA*300
F8 - ISO100 - 1/1000s



02-15-2018, 08:36 AM   #27563
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
Here's one more from that same day:
K-3ii + 1.4xTC + DA*300
F8 - ISO100 - 1/1000s
Thank you for posting these. She's an absolutely beautiful creature and just as gorgeous as in the first image.
02-15-2018, 09:49 AM - 7 Likes   #27564
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More park Gray Jays...

I was mostly just out talking to the other photographers, taking a few images with the K-3 and DA*200 and 1.4 TC between conversational bits. One had the VR on her Canon 100-400 go a little crazy making it impossible to use, and definitely in need of some shop time. There was so much crazy motion caused by the VR unit she couldn't even lock focus, forget about take an image. She had a 150-600 as a backup so she wasn't suffering at all. Sometimes I go to take pictures, sometimes I go out just to get out of the house on a nice day, and the pictures are incidental. I probably spent a lot more time talking than shooting.

Incidental pictures.









There is minimal PP on these images, pretty much straight off the camera with basic WB and sensor presets. No cropping was needed. Hand held shot in burst mode. All images were in focus, but handshake gave me a slightly different framing on each image. It's luxury to be able to select for composition and not have any concern about other aspect of IQ, like if the image is in focus.

Last edited by normhead; 02-15-2018 at 10:53 AM.
02-15-2018, 10:06 AM - 1 Like   #27565
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My apologies for the poor quality; but it was under very extremely dim lighting. This bird only was there for a brief few seconds, so didn't even have time to change settings on my K3.

Anyone ID this bird? It was very large.
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02-15-2018, 10:11 AM   #27566
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QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
More park Gray Jays...
But I see the birds gotta have a wristband to get into the park.
02-15-2018, 10:13 AM   #27567
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QuoteOriginally posted by dadipentak Quote
But I see the birds gotta have a wristband there.
Me too, a Firtbit Charge 2. It reminds me to get off my butt when I sit at the computer too long.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/2011/10/gray_jays_winte.html

If you go to the Visitor's Centre up on the wall you can go and identify which bird you photographed by comparing the bands to the posted chart.

Last edited by normhead; 02-15-2018 at 10:54 AM.
02-15-2018, 10:20 AM   #27568
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Dished face and short "horns"...guessing short-eared owl of which we have many in your region-csa. They have the white rump patch when flying, very much like the common Northern Harrier (marsh hawk). They actually look quite hawkish, but the side view is tough to tell.
02-15-2018, 10:33 AM   #27569
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Thanks Ron! All I have are side views. Here's a couple more. Again, apologies for poor lighting. These last photos show a white with black bars on underside of tail. The stripes going sideways across the breast, could it be a Northern Hawk Owl?
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Last edited by csa; 02-15-2018 at 10:42 AM.
02-15-2018, 10:36 AM - 1 Like   #27570
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QuoteOriginally posted by csa Quote
Thanks Ron! All I have are side views. Here's a couple more. Again, apologies for poor lighting.
You have no control over Mother Gaia's weather control. You gave us a look at a bird we will seldom see, and probably never be able to photograph.
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