Owls seem to be particularly hard to find and photograph due to their nocturnal nature. This one was pretty easy, just a matter of being out. A Pygmy owl, hunts during the day for rodents.

Gorgeous shot Derek. I just love owls, amazing birds.

Great shot! I have no luck with owls. I here them constantly. A few times I saw them in the dark, but never in daylight

Fantastic !!

beautiful owl...alot prettier than the ones around here



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by pearsaab, on Flickr
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Fantastic shot of the Pygmy Owl -- beautiful background and excellent "pose". OK, Barred Owls aren't quite as cute, but are magnificent birds nonetheless. I hear them very often but rarely see them, so nice work here.

Here's a Burrowing Owl, shot from a car at the Cibola NWR on the Colorado River. There are several man-made burrows (or at least burrow entrances) along the auto trail through the refuge, so that you are nearly certain of seeing the owls during a visit.

Those are all fantastic shots. I have spent a lot of time over the last 18 months or so trying to find owls. Studying where they should be, going to known wintering sites, looking for owl pellets, all with very little success. The only ones I've got photos of were pointed out by others, or captive:

Last Spring at Magee Marsh I was tipped off about this Great Horned Owlet. The Swarovski reps had it in the sights of one of there spotting scopes. I took these with my 55-300 barely being able to see it, it's amazing how it blends in with the tree. It was probably 50-70 yards away, and these are heavy crops.


I was at the High Banks Metro Park in Columbus and a guy on a trail told me where this Barred Owl was nesting, it was only a bout a half a mile away just a few feet off a trail.

At the Ohio State Fair they had a display of injured birds of prey, they were either recovering or had injuries that would not allow them to survive in the wild. I only had a Tamron 10-24 lens with me, so these are real close ups.
Barn Owl, what a beautiful bird:


Great Horned Owl:

Very nice. No wonder we don't see them very often, they disappear.

These are the only Owl shots I have gotten. I can think of 2 other times where I saw one but no chance I could get my camera to my eye and focus before they took off.
This is a Pygmy Owl as stated above

Another Pygmy Owl who was eyeballing his christmas bird for lunch.

I wanted to share a few of my photos. There are so many great shots on this site that I feel a little intimidated.

You shouldn't, that's a great shot!

Amazing owl camo shots Ramsey. Lovely shot Leptim !

Well done Leptim..