flyrod98 0 Report post Posted December 20, 2007 Beautiful Photo!! There is a web cam site on the smoke stack of power plant in Boulder, Co and the wife and I get to see a pair of Great Horns raise they young ones every spring. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wulff 0 Report post Posted December 20, 2007 Nice Will. It looks liked a Great Horned but Im not sure. Owl season is starting to heat up around here. Ive had one go at a Northern Hawk Owl thus far and am anxioulsy waiting for more and the arrival of Snowies ( and better light). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mokai 0 Report post Posted December 21, 2007 Great shot will..I dont see many Owls where I live..But I have always got my eye out.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashby 0 Report post Posted December 21, 2007 Beautiful picture of the owl. Ashby Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2007 Fantastic photo Will, such a magnificent creature and I like the soft lighting. I would have come home very happy if I'd captured this image. Now I'm wondering how far I need to drive to find some pretty owls. Graham Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2007 Here's a couple of egret shots from the past week, as well as a photo of a hawk that flew over the lake, which was chased away by a loud krew of gulls. I took the smaller snowy egret shot on a local pier, sure surprised me when I saw it fly past me so closely. I had my 70-200 lens on the camera. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashby 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2007 Very nice pics Graham. The last one is pretty awesome. Ashby Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will Milne 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2007 Ty all for the encouaraging words. I was back out yesterday camera in hand and once again found the Owl. Did'nt take a single image!!. What a scene. There was the Owl and somewhere between 10-15 Crows bombing/sqwauking/ landing in the tree around it.....Aieeeee. What was strange was that the Owl just sat there and watched them, though it did look stressed.. swiveling it's head around to keep an eye on the Crows and me. I decided to back away and watch from a distance as I was obviously contributing to the Owl's stress level without need. The owl rather than fly off, jump/flew from one branch to another , keeping an eye on the Crows... I stayed for about half an hour. I got a real sense that at some point if one of the Crows had gotten close enough , it would have been lunch!!!! Hopefully the Owl is staying around as this is only 2 minutes walk from my house. I,m heading out tonight , hopefully to see it hunt. Will Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peterjay 0 Report post Posted December 23, 2007 I think the crows are safe unless they lie down in front of the owl - owls aren't really equipped to catch birds on the fly. I had a pet barred owl when I was a kid, (along with virtually every species of critter in NE - our place wasn't an official zoo, but you could have fooled the neighbors LOL) and he'd occasionally get loose and perch on the garage roof. Every bird for miles around who was physically able would converge on the spot and dive-bomb the daylights out of him. Most species were happy to get a whack at the owl and be done with it, but there seemed to be some particularly deep-rooted racial animosity between the owl and the crows. I don't know where it all began, but they really hate each others' guts. Probably started when an owl was caught cheating in some long-ago avian poker game. Anway, great pix. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mokai 0 Report post Posted December 27, 2007 A Chipping Sparrow from Christmas morning..Shot hand held at 1/200th of a second f/5.6 at 1600 ISO..I am impressed at the lack of noise from the D40.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted December 28, 2007 Beautiful image Mokai, nice work. Graham Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2008 I found a new birding spot today, a nice little swampy area about 14 miles from home. Next time I go back I need to take some flash equipment to help brighten and sharpen my images. I'm not excited about the images I captured today, most look a tad soft, and the lighting in the shade didn't bring out the colors as well as expected. But, I am very excited about going back, a number of times this year, and hopefully will get some sharp action shots. This was a welcome sight... Wood ducks and Mandarin ducks... I also found some peacocks and geese. I took lots of close ups of the peacock feathers and later when I go through the rest of todays photos I'll post some... I had fun and feel like this year is off to a good start... Graham Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashby 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2008 WOW Graham, very nice pictures of the ducks. You know (not to put a morbid ring to things) my boss dropped off some ducks the other day (he only takes the breast) I thought they were pretty colorful for wood ducks. Well, I saw your second photo there and realized just what he had gotten me. Two Mandarin ducks. Holy cow those are some pretty feathers. Now I can't way until they are ready to pull out of the freezer so I can pluck and wash them. Awesome shots though Graham. Ashby Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mokai 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2008 Nice work Graham..Its always nice to find a new hide out for birds..I have been having a heck of a time finding any good bird spots lately..But the weather has been really crappy too..Low 30s and rain/snow..Thats why I have been experimenting in the home studio.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frogfish 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2008 Those mandarin ducks are real pretty... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
