On a rainy hike yesterday morning deep in a pine forest of Hollis, NH I startled a Barred Owl who was very low on a branch perfectly camouflaged. He flew a very short distance and landed on another branch a little higher up. Although I have seen barred owls several times in this area over the past year, I still consider them to be my ultimate find. Cameraless, I watched it for 10 minutes and marked it on my GPS.
Then I tried to determine how long it would take me to get back to my truck. My thought was, based on an experience I had last summer, Barred owls tend to stay put for long periods of time during the day. So maybe, just maybe I could hike back to my truck, drive a few miles home, get my camera, drive back, hike back to the spot with help from my GPS and get a great opportunity to photograph such an amazing animal. It worked! Forty minutes later...I relocated the owl and photographed it for about 45 more minute from 20 feet away!
checking out a small noise below
Got to be careful how you itch your ear when you have claws like that!
I was relieved and out of breath after putting in that kind of effort to get shots like these.
I even had a chance to try some HDR techniques
Thanks for stopping by, come back soon to check out some shots of the peregrine falcons I have been watching.
-Bill
