My fascination with Great Grey Owls continues

My fascination with Great Grey Owls continues.

 

As I finished up the processing of my images from Wyoming this past January, I found so many of my personal favorites were of Taiga, the GGO from the Teton Raptor Center. I not only find the eyes captivating, but I find everything about them fascinating. I watched a video the TRC put out about how they measure snow to see how successful the owls will be hunting during the winter. The owls hunt by hearing the voles or other rodents move under the snow and then dive into the snow breaking through to catch their prey. To do the testing, they use a water bottle filled with water to simulate the weight of the bird, and hold it about 3 feet above the snow. These owls can hear a mouse under several feet of snow and I have trouble hearing the TV from across the room sometimes…

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-850, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 800, shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, Sirui P326 monopod, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #BearWoodsPhotography, #NatureInFocusPhotographyWorkshops

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Raven

Raven.

 

One day we decided to ride to Colter Bay to see if we could spot any foxes. We didn’t see any but on one stop a Raven landed in a tree above us. I’m guessing it was hoping for us to be on a lunch stop and we would be messy eaters and drop something. He probably found the right group, well part of us anyway, for being messy, but we weren’t having lunch, so he came up empty handed for a quick easy meal. Ravens intelligence is incredible and watching them you can almost see them thinking. It would study as someone went to the back of the vehicle and opened it, almost trying to figure out how it could open it if we walked away. Beautiful birds and one of the smartest out there.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 1800, shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation feature of the lens, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #BearWoodsPhotography, #NatureInFocusPhotographyWorkshops

The Sentinel

The Sentinel.

 

Late one afternoon our group was near Kelly, Wyoming photographing some snow covered pines. As we drove back we spotted 2 Bald Eagles on a power pole, one half way up, one on the top. We stopped to photograph them of course. We noticed that the one half way up was feeding on what we later identified as a Mallard duck. Our first thought was the one on top was waiting to feed, but as we looked closer we noticed that it had a full crop, which is the area at the top of the digestive system that stores food. We are guessing the two were a mated pair and simply shared dinner, the one on the top of the pole was simply waiting for the other to finish its meal, almost standing guard as it ate.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 1800, shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, handheld, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #BearWoodsPhotography, #NatureInFocusPhotographyWorkshops

Osprey Sunning

Osprey sunning.

 

The same morning we photographed the Osprey fishing on Merritt Island, we also scored this beautiful scene on the way out. The Osprey was enjoying the warm morning sun on a perch. It posed for us a while but eventually flew off when a crowd gathered behind us. Osprey are one of my favorite raptor, or close to a tie for first with Eagles, and are always great to photograph.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 220, shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, handheld, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #BearWoodsPhotography

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron.

 

When I see a Great Blue Heron I automatically think of dinosaurs. This bird more than any other makes me think of how dinosaurs looked when they roamed the Earth. They are fascinating to me, their ability to spear a fish then toss it in the air to turn it so the head faces the mouth then swallow it. We watched one, in this same place, catch a fish that had to be a foot long, then do it. Beautiful birds.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 250, shutter speed of 1/500th of a second, Sirui SR 3204 tripod and PH20 Gimbal head, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #BearWoodsPhotography

Green Heron

Green Heron.

 

During our week at the Space Coast Birding Festival, my groups looked for good opportunities to photograph Green Herons. Most of the time they were in the roots of mangroves, or behind some grass, but on Saturday the group was rewarded with one cooperative heron that fly to a log in front of us and posed. He stayed for a few minutes, tried to catch a fish, then flew off. I could hear the shutters opening and closing by the hundreds!

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 2800, shutter speed of 1/500th of a second, Sirui SR 3204 tripod and PH20 Gimbal head, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #BearWoodsPhotography

The Strike

The Strike.

 

Watching Egrets and Herons fish is always fascinating to me. They move slowly doing their best not to disturb their prey. Sometimes they will shuffle their feet to stir up prey while their upper bodies remain motionless. Then you see them slowly move their heads into position to strike. Capturing that moment when the fish makes contact with the water is my goal. That moment when the bird’s nictitating membrane covers its eye to protect it from any debris. The Great Egret missed on this attempt, but we did watch and photograph it for several minutes while it hunted, actually catching a few fish during that time. Most of the fish were inches long, but every little bit counts.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 180, shutter speed of 1/500th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation feature of the lens, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron150600g2, #BearWoodsPhotography, #SpaceCoastBirdingFestival