Willam Kramer Studio - Blog

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Snowy Owl Success, part 2!




I took a trip along the Massachusetts/New Hampshire coast yesterday sporting a rental 500mm f4 with a 1.4 teleconverter from borrowlenses.com giving an effective focal length of 700mm. With all my owl sightings recently off the beaten path I needed to prepare differently this time. All the bulk and weight of a camera setup like this makes it more difficult to access these far reaching areas. Especially the fact that I needed to carry a heavy tripod as well. With a few special coat hanger and duct tape modifications I was able to carry the whole camera and lens vertically in my back country snowboarding bag making it very easy to hike the miles that I planned.


Fortunate for me I didn't have to hike nearly as far as I thought I would. Within 20 minutes of leaving my truck at lot 7 on Plum Island I located a single, beautiful peppered Snowy Owl. This owl was very patient seemingly sleepy as the wind gusted up to 30 mph. To get a sense of how strong the wind was check out this video capture.


On my way back up the coast I swung by Rye Harbor and watched some Buffleheads, Horned Grebes, and Long-tailed ducks feed in the shallows.

More owl photos here.
-Bill

1 comment:

Pat Ulrich said...

Gorgeous shots of the owl! I found the same juvenile there earlier in the month, but unfortunately it was on an overcast day -- so I need to make a trip back for some better light. I haven't yet seen the adult further up the beach though. Love your shots of it, it's a gorgeous bird!