Category: Burrowing Owls

A Plea For Respect For The Burrowing Owl

If there’s a group of birds on the face of the earth that is almost universally loved it seems to me that it would have to be owls. Many folks are captivated by them for their large forward-facing eyes, quizzical expressions, eerie vocalizations and the sense of mystery provided by their generally nocturnal habits.  Others appreciate their many unique adaptations, such as silent flight and their ability to turn their heads 270 degrees.  There’s just something about owls…   1/640, f/9, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc  And for many of us Burrowing Owls are at the pinnacle of that adoration.  Their comical antics, especially those of the juveniles, tug at our heartstrings and make us smile.  And they’re more accessible to viewing than are most owls because they’re active during daylight and spend much of their time on the ground close to their burrows instead of being hidden high up in trees.  The flip-side to all this is that Burrowing Owls are extremely vulnerable to unthinking human intrusion – especially while they’re nesting and caring for chicks or juveniles.     1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In Utah the burrows of these owls are typically found among sagebrush, which they often use as perches during early morning.  This allows the patient and ethical birder or photographer a good look at the birds without having to get too close in order to see through the vegetation usually found in the burrow area. It’s not unusual for Burrowing Owls to nest close to roads and when they do…

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Some Recent Shots I Like, Despite Some Flaws

Like every other bird photographer many of the photos I take are not worth keeping.  For the first few years I was shooting birds I estimated that I deleted 90% of my images.  Now that I’ve become a little more discriminating that number is probably closer to 95%.  Birds are incredibly difficult subjects – they’re fast, unpredictable, difficult to approach and generally uncooperative.  When I’m culling images after a day in the field most shots fall under two main categories – keepers and garbage.  But there’s often a few that are technically lacking for one reason or another but have some unusual or especially interesting feature that makes it difficult for me to trash them.  So I don’t. Occasionally I go back through them just for the fun of it.  I enjoy them and thought some of you might too so here’s a few from the past month or so.    1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This one’s from yesterday – a Lark Sparrow that posed and groomed for us for quite a while.  Looking through the viewfinder I had no idea there was a second Lark Sparrow in the vicinity and didn’t even notice it flying through the frame until I got home and looked at it on my computer.  Mia said that she’d noticed the second bird and that it chased the first bird away when it flew.  Anyway, I thought the out-of-focus sparrow to the left was an interesting serendipity.  I just wish the two twigs by the head weren’t there.      1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4…

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An Itchy, Fidgety Burrowing Owl On A Wiggly Perch

It all started with an itch.    1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Two days ago just as the sun was coming up over the Wasatch we found this adult Burrowing Owl perched on a dried sunflower.  The lower background is the Great Salt Lake.  The bird was sunning itself and pretty static and I was hoping for some kind of action.      1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Then it tried to scratch its face while perched on this spindly and unstable perch and that’s when the action began.  (Full disclosure – this shot is a little out-of-order but it shows the scratching behavior better than any I got at the very beginning – it tried to scratch the same spot on its face several times during this sequence).      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc  Every time the owl tried to scratch its face the sunflower stem would move around and throw the bird off-balance so the wings would go out and I got some interesting poses in nice light.      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I was able to get many images of the balancing act as it progressed but the owl was sidelit so in quite a few of them one or both of the wings  and one side of the face were in shadow.  These are the images with the best pose and light combinations that I was able to get.  The secondary wing feathers seem to be still growing in from a recent molt.    …

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Burrowing Owl Against A Clean Background

A few days ago we found this adult Burrowing Owl in early morning light and perched high on some rabbitbrush with the Great Salt Lake as background.  After I got the pickup stopped it only gave me a second or two of posing before it flew off.    1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Most of my images of this species show the bird on the ground with a cluttered setting so I like the cleanness of this image.  I also enjoy the fact that with the sun so low both eyes are well-lit even at the top of the corneas where there’s usually some shadow from the brows. If I’d had more time I’d have adjusted my settings to get more depth of field for the tail but sometimes, just occasionally :-), birds don’t cooperate with my best intentions… Ron

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Just A Shot That I Like… #19 – Burrowing Owl Catching Its Balance

Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island are often a hit or miss proposition.  Occasionally one can find an accessible burrow occupied by multiple birds and get just close enough for quality images without disturbing the owls.  But more often than not they’re difficult to find – especially in a location where the angle of light is good in the morning when I prefer to shoot.     1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This bird was one of a family of owls on the north end of the island that would occasionally sun themselves in the early morning at the top of a sagebrush perch.  Here the owl had momentarily lost its balance while changing position on the branch and I was able to catch a pose I liked as it recovered.  I love backgrounds like this that the island and the bokeh of my lens often provide.  Ron  

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Burrowing Owls of Antelope Island

 I simply adore watching and photographing Burrowing Owls.  They show more personality and cute little quirks than any other avian species I’ve photographed – especially the juveniles.  There are usually three problems with shooting these birds though – finding them in the first place, getting close enough to them for high quality photographs without disturbing their normal activities or making them nervous and catching them out in the open or on an elevated perch so that the vegetation that usually surrounds their burrows doesn’t obscure the birds.  Two summers ago a family of these owls had their burrow right along the road on the Antelope Island causeway.   They were obviously very accepting of all the traffic so getting close without disturbing them was no problem – I’d just pull up on the road edge close to their burrow and stay in my pickup to photograph them.   I photographed them for almost two weeks and I’ve kept a ridiculous number of those images- just can’t make myself delete many of them.  The family consisted of both parents and four juveniles.  I spent most of my time photographing the juvies – they’re just so vivacious, spunky and full of life that they make wonderful subjects.  The problem at this burrow site was two-fold – lots of obscuring vegetation and then when they did perch up higher it was usually on some unattractive pieces of broken concrete adjacent to the burrow.    1/1250, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Occasionally one of the juveniles would be perched on this rock when we…

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Burrowing Owls – Clowns of the Bird World

  Of the many bird species I’ve photographed, Burrowing Owls by far show the most “personality”.  Their repertoire of silly antics, funny poses, stretches, yawns and grooming behaviors are a photographers dream.  And once they feel comfortable in your presence they will often allow you to photograph them for a very long time without flying off or retreating to their burrow.  But you have to find them first… The antics of juveniles are even more exaggerated than those of adults.  Most of the images I will present here are of juveniles.  Some of the shots were taken in less than ideal conditions (harsh light, shadows, clutter) but I think they illustrate the goofball personalities of these birds well. Giving the photographer a suspicious look It’s difficult to resist being anthropomorphic (ascribing human emotion or motivation to non-human species) when it comes to Burrowing Owls so I won’t even try.  This juvenile looks very suspicious of me but in reality I suspect that it was only curious.   Wing-stretch with lifted foot, or “They went that-a-way!”    Topsy  turvy owl Juveniles practice their parallax skills regularly.  It involves bobbing and twisting their heads so their eyes can view an object (in this case me) from different positions.  This allows them to better determine distance to that object.   I’m sure it’s serious business for the owls but to us it can sure look silly.  And adorable.  Reaction to sudden and unexpected rain One sunny and hot August morning I was photographing a pair of juveniles when a single cloud passed overhead and…

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Photographing Birds on Antelope Island

  My previous post was an overview of the geology of Antelope Island and its non-bird wildlife.  Here, I’ll focus on its birds.   Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike begging for food Loggerhead Shrikes are common on many parts of the island during summer.  They can be a challenge to approach but those few that nest close to the road eventually get used to traffic so if you photograph from your vehicle you can often get quite close.  Here this juvenile was begging for food that was being delivered by a parent just out of frame to the left.    Loggerhead Shrike with dragonfly  Shrikes are often called “butcher birds” for their practice of temporarily impaling their prey on thorns or other sharp projections.   This juvenile had done just that with the dragonfly but it wasn’t very good at it yet and in the end just decided to eat it instead of store it away.     Loggerhead Shrike with spider Shrikes are opportunistic carnivores known to feed on insects, spiders, amphibians, small reptiles, rodents and other birds.   This one also attempted to impale the prey before eating it.     Juvenile Burrowing Owl practicing its parallax technique on me Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite species on the island though they can be difficult to locate from year to year as they often don’t seem to nest in the same burrow the next year.  In the summer of 2009 there was an entire family of owls along the causeway to the island nesting under concrete rubble, as in the…

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A Bitter Lesson in Depth of Field

  I have spent many hours photographing Burrowing Owls over the past two summers but it’s a real challenge to get clear shots of them as they typically stay on the ground and are usually at least partially obscured by vegetation.  For me it’s a real coup to get one on an elevated, natural perch in good light. Last week I had a wonderful opportunity with them and simply blew it.  As we approached our “owl spot” we noticed that there were three of them perched up high on a sagebrush in beautiful early morning light.  I maneuvered my pickup for the best light angle I could get and to obtain separation of the owls from each other.  Everything perfect.  And all three birds gave us a variety of interesting poses for several minutes.  I had noticed that the owl on the left was perhaps a foot (or slightly less) closer to us than the other two birds so I was concerned about depth of field.  I seldom shoot multiple subjects and typically with only one bird I’m shooting at f/6.1 – f/8 depending on the situation.  Knowing I needed more DOF here I dialed in f/13 thinking that would be plenty to get all three birds sharp.   The image below is typical of the results I got.  Burrowing Owl – Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/200, f/13, ISO 500, cropped to 77% of original image   The owl on the left is noticeably soft.  That is quite apparent at a larger image size, say 1200 pixels, though not quite so obvious at this…

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