Evening on the hunt
After hunting in the forest for a while, the owl flew to the edge of the tree line and operated from the fenceposts there. He snagged two field mice within a couple of minutes, consuming one in the grass and one on a post. He then flew deep into the woods. Possibly to share with its mate or to continue hunting in another area.
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Night Flight
I found an owl hunting after dusk had settled over Bragg Creek. It was getting dark quickly and I had go back to my car for a flash at one point. I started to photograph this Great Gray around a stand of trees on the edge of a field. After a while she moved out onto the yellow grass and then went to perch on a fencepost.
Retrieving the light, I mounted it in the hotshoe and it didn’t take long to relocate her. We then spent an hour together as she hunted on either side of the fence line while I watched from 40′ away. She was very comfortable with me there and flew to a post closer to me on a couple of occasions. It was challenging to shoot the owl in flight but a lot of fun.
At one point we traveled along the fence with her stopping every 100′ until I caught up. When we had returned to the edge of the trees, the owl flew back out towards the field. It was a very powerful encounter for me.
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Spring Robins
Robins are heralds of spring where I live. Our weather can be 20°C in the middle of winter or have a snowstorm in July so we have a lot of fits and starts between each season. I know that winter has mostly retreated when the robins return to our backyard. This one showed up with its partner about a week ago and I photographed him having a drink in the pond over the weekend. It was a mild winter but I’m still very glad to be enjoying spring now.
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Eagles in the Elk Valley
We were in Fernie a couple of weeks ago and on the drive home found a few Bald eagles who were flying around a carcass that had been pulled a few hundred meters off the highway. They scattered when we first stopped but came circling back around the trees and back to the easy meal. A nice break during the lean winter months.
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Dawn Osprey in Cabo San Lucas
One morning while I was set up for sunrise in the rocks on the coastline, one of the resident Ospreys flew low overhead looking for fish. Her sharp eyes picked me out easily and she looked at me for a couple of seconds before banking back towards the open water. The pink light from the eastern horizon softly painted the belly and underwing covert feathers.
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Egret on the rocks
This Great egret (Ardea alba) stepped around the point and into view from the rocks where I was photographing.
After a short pause, she flew across a small gap and began fishing. The head cocks back and then strikes into the water, rarely coming up without a fish.
At home I photograph the Great blue herons frequently which is in the same family as egrets. Their mannerisms are very similar as is their size. The white feathers are the most obvious difference and I love shooting them against the blues of the water and the warm hues in the rocks.
In flight, I find them particularly alluring and this bird flew between several outcrops affording me great opportunities to watch.
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Pelican dawn
(If the image appears pixelated, please click the picture to open a higher resolution version)
We fled the cold and are now warming up under the sun in Cabo San Lucas. This morning I trekked along the beach to an outcrop of rock that I thought would be lovely for sunrise. Along the way, a squadron of Brown Pelicans flew by and were silhouetted against the early glow that preceded the sun.
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An owl in the woods
A Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) brought in the day with me last week. A short while after leaving there, I visited a stand of trees that line a gravel road south of Frank Lake. There is a nest for a pair of these owls which has been used for decades. I photographed the nest last spring and wanted to drive by to have a look. The chicks would have fledged in June and the nest was empty of any residents.
I found this tiger owl a couple of hundred metres away perched about 3 metres off the ground. It was quite alert considering its nocturnal nature and moved to three separate locations in grove over the half an hour that I watched the bird.
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Evening Osprey
While we were in Osoyoos we spent one evening at the lake. As the sun was setting two ospreys circled above the water on the hunt for the last fish of the day. I followed one of them that came fairly close to our beach and shot when it crossed in front of the sun.
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A lone owl out for breakfast
To start the long weekend, I went looking for the Great Gray Owl pair who have been very active over a field of tall, green grass for much of the summer. I had a relatively short visit with one of the owls on this encounter. The bird stayed across the field for most of the hour I watched him. He did fly across, land nearby and stay for a few minutes at one point. However I got there a little bit later than usual so the morning hunt was winding down.
There was one particularly good dive that I pulled a nice sequence from. I love the wing positions in these shots and the intention in the focused stare.
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It was good to see the owl again after being away for a couple of weeks. When he headed back towards the forest edge and their nest, I headed back to my home too.
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Flight
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A pretty simple image from an early morning this weekend. I watched the pair hunting over the field in West Bragg Creek for three hours and enjoyed many great opportunities. This was one of my favourites on the day.
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Eagle along the Cowboy Trail
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/5oooth of a second on f/4 and ISO 1600
A Bald Eagle spent a couple of mornings in and around a field east of Bragg Creek where the prairie starts.
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/5oooth of a second on f/4 and ISO 1600
He landed in the grass in one general spot a few times on the two days that I stopped to watch so I suspect there was a carcass that was an easy meal.
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/25ooth of a second on f/4 and ISO 800
The only distraction came from a pair of ravens that pestered the eagle in the air and on the field. They proved to not be a significant deterrent as the eagle muscled them out away.
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/5oooth of a second on f/4 and ISO 800
Christopher Martin Photography 