Short-eared Owl In A Snowy Setting

I’ve had very few good opportunities with Short-eared Owls in winter but yesterday morning along the causeway to Antelope Island my luck changed a bit for the better.   It was overcast but there was almost 6″ of fresh snow on the ground which helped slightly by reflecting some of the available light onto the bird. The setting in these three images is “high key” (light color tones with little contrast) because of all the snow.  The  background is the snow-covered lakebed of the Great Salt Lake.  High key images don’t appeal to everyone.    1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Northern Harriers and Rough-legged Hawks often hunt the causeway so when I first came across this owl my camera settings were already set for possible flight shots.  I snapped off a few images at those settings before I made adjustments.  I wasn’t particularly happy with the vegetation in front of the bird…       1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in but it soon flew a few hundred feet west along the causeway and perched on a rabbitbrush that gave a slightly better view of the owl.  For this shot I had maneuvered my position to get some very out of focus vegetation in the mid-background to provide at least a little bit of color back there but the difference is only slight.      1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up…

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