Spring flight – a great gray owl in the evening
I saw this owl perched in the middle of a field of bushes at first. The sun was getting low so I felt lucky to have found her before it became too dark to photograph.
She flew low over the foliage and dropped into them for a moment – disappearing from view. A blur of motion behind a line of still wintering trees caught my eye and I followed her as she landed on a branch halfway up the last of these trees.
A few minutes later, she flew across the field once again and disappeared into the forest.
All the while, her mate had been perched at the top of an evergreen in the middle of the bushes and I turned my attention to him for a little while. The light failed quickly and I headed home leaving the lone owl at his viewing tower.
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Gulls in flight at Carburn Park
I like photographing birds – no surprise to those who follow this blog. I’m not a birder with a long list of life birds but I really enjoy watching almost every bird I see, particularly when they are in motion. Several days ago at Carburn Park the sky was overcast, snow fell and wind out of the north had a bit of a bite to it. A great day to watch and photograph along the Bow River.
At one bend there was a small colony of California gulls. A few flew off in the time I watched them. Although these gulls are common around Calgary’s rivers through the winter, and can be easily found at any time, I had fun watching these ones fly by.
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A Heron in Yellowstone
Great blue herons are a favourite bird of mine. I was very happy when I spotted this one fishing along the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park when I was there a few weeks ago. I found a little shoulder off the road where I could park my car and I walked back to the small bridge I had just crossed.
The heron was stalking through the grass in the water, noted my presence with a slight turn of its head, and then continued. A few minutes, three strikes and two fish later, it had moved closer and was now directly across the water from me.
Whether it was momentarily full, spooked by a particular vehicle crossing the bridge or just tired of me watching, it jumped into the air after ducking under the logs in front of it in the picture above.
I was in a great position to watch the strong wingbeats lift the heron. I was already feeling lucky for first finding it along this beautiful river bend and then getting to photograph it fishing. When it took flight and then banked overhead, I was able to get several nice flight shots and I felt my luck had doubled down on its own accord – and won!
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Great gray ascension
This Great gray owl was hunting for field mice in West Bragg yesterday. It dove a few times, easily punching through the thin covering of snow left by Friday’s snowstorm. I watched it fly between fence posts before it flew up to this branch. It turned out to be a good vantage point as it caught a mouse on its next dive.
I do want to also wish everyone a Happy Easter! I hope everyone enjoys time with family and friends over the weekend. We started the morning with a fun hunt with yarn that led the kids to their respective jackpots. While we were outside, I looked for our resident rabbit but he was nowhere to be found – so no Easter Bunny photographs this year!
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Blue sky, white owl
The cold morning cleared out a few early clouds and the afternoon east of High River was bright under a deep blue sky. I found a couple of Snowy owls across the day with this one’s flight after launching from a telephone pole standing out due to the sunlight catching the yellow eyes brilliantly. A great day on the prairies with these beautiful animals.
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On old friend around a weathered barn
I had the great pleasure of seeing a Great horned owl at an old barn east of High River. It is one that I have visited a couple of times over the past couple of years. This window, which faces north, is a favourite daytime perch. The heavy clouds only threatened rain and their midday dimming effect seemed to encourage the owl to make a couple of sorties over the surrounding fields during the time I spent there.
The owl flew along the fence line twice which afforded me a few great in-flight shooting opportunities. I left the barn with my friend perched in the deep shadow of the barn’s interior.
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A Snowy owl’s elusive smile
This Snowy owl had been chirping at some ravens nearby when it was perched on a telephone pole and they were flying above. Eventually one came too close which prompted the owl’s leap into the air. She looped around the pole once before settling on another one further from the mischief makers. While banking in the turn photographed above she cried out again. This time proved an excellent opportunity to photograph her “smile”.
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A Snowy Owl’s flight over the prairies
On the weekend I followed reports of Snowy owls northeast of Calgary near Irricana. I left home early and arrived in the area just after sunrise. I was lucky enough to spy the first Snowie of the day perched on a fence post glowing in the soft light.
The pure white owls were until quite recently thought to always be males. That has been disproved leaving it hard to determine the gender from casual observation. I will allow for the old convention though and refer to this one as a he. The other four birds I photographed that morning were banded to varying degrees and I will refer to them as ladies in a future post. It took only a few minutes before he launched and scouted low over the field for breakfast. This was repeated a couple of times with each sortie ending with a return to the fence line.
On the last flight that I photographed of this owl, he flew away from the fence and landed in the middle of the field on a pipeline valve which allowed for an interesting backlit shot as he flared his wings to land.
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Red-tailed flights in Turner Valley
On my return from the two separate visits with Great Horned Owls near High River, I drove past Okotoks, through Black Diamond and Turner Valley and then back to Bragg Creek. I counted more than twenty five hawks before I reached Priddis. Along the way, I stopped a couple of times that were in interesting locations.
One Red-tailed hawk was hunting from a wooden gate and fence dividing a farm from the highway. This hawk dove once while I was set up – it was great to observe an attack from close range thanks to a long telephoto lens. It returned to the post empty-taloned but then launched out over the field and grabbed a mouse when it neared the far side. Too far for a decent photograph but great to watch.
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Great Gray Owl on a morning hunt
I was able to spend another morning with the Great Gray Owl in Bragg Creek that I have had the good fortune to watch several times (links: #1 and #2) this summer. She was waiting patiently on a fence post when I spotted her.
She almost seemed to wait while I quickly set up my long lens on its tripod before hunting in the deep grass. Over the next half hour she made several dives and had no trouble catching unlucky field creatures (by my count she was batting .333 on the day).
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She would stay in the grass for up to a minute after each lunge so I had the opportunity to focus on the launches back into the air a couple of times.
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Once the sunlight reached the field, the morning warmed up quickly and the owl’s pace slowed. On one of the last dives before I left, the owl had been on the far side of the field and then glided across. En route, it dropped down almost disappearing. When it popped its head back up, there was a great moment where the yellow eyes peered out of carpet of green.
By then the light was getting harsh and I was getting hungry. When she flew out, I packed up and drove off.
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Full extension
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/2000 second at f/4 on ISO 800
When this Red-tailed hawk launched off the post I had been watching him on for a few minutes, I was really impressed by the power and balance displayed. He flew closer and then went to the ground after circling back towards the fenceline. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an attacking dive only an uninspired landing in the tall grass.
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/2000 second at f/4 on ISO 800
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Bald Eagles in Brackendale
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens and 1.4X extender: 1/1000 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 3200
I was in Brackendale, just north of Squamish, for a couple of days in December. Every year thousands of Bald Eagles congregate in this area along the banks of the Squamish River. There are three separate salmon spawning runs that overlap between November and February that result in dead and dying salmon littering the rocky shoreline. The easy dining is a draw for eagles, seagulls as well as the occasional otter and seal (which in turn are quite the draw for photographers as it turns out!) I was there for the Bald Eagles and was not disappointed in any way. The first day was spent along the berm, that serves as a main viewing point, a bit further upriver in an eddy where a particularly cool eagle was hanging out.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens and 1.4X extender: 1/1000 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 3200
I will do a separate post from the second day when the snow fell and I was out on a birdwatching float down the river. For now, these images are from the first day where the overcast skies allowed for open shadows and allowed the texture and detail in the eagle plumage to be seen. It was pretty dark at times as you can tell by the ISO settings I was using but it was a great day filled with eagles coming and going.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens and 1.4X extender: 1/1000 of a second at f/5.6 on ISO 4000
There are so many fish that serious fights appear to be rare but eagles are opportunistic so there are still skirmishes where one will try to chase off another who has already gone through the effort of retrieving a salmon out of the water.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens and 1.4X extender: 1/1000 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 4000
Others preferred a little more distance from their brethren. This eagle hung out on a perch in the middle of a pond-like eddy off the river. At one point it called out but it didn’t fly over to the scattered groups of eagles in the trees across the water nor did any of them come over to visit.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/800 of a second at f/4.5 on ISO 1600
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/1000 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 2000
It splashed around in the shallow water for a while, stopping to snack for a minute, but seemed to return to this stick as its preferred resting spot.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/1600 of a second at f/4 on ISO 1600
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/1600 of a second at f/4 on ISO 1000
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/2000 of a second at f/4 on ISO 800
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/2000 of a second at f/4 on ISO 1600
I never tired of watching these eagles flying. I think they are one of the most beautiful birds to watch in flight. It was a great day on BC’s west coast.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens and 1.4X extender: 1/1000 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 3200
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/1000 of a second at f/4 on ISO 3200
