Don’t Expect to Find Him Hunting Every Day, But On Some Days, He Can Put On A Great Show!
Perched and Watching: Most Great Gray Owls are tolerant of humans. I’ve never found Great Horned Owls to be as “photographer friendly”. C3 has been seen off and on along the Moose-Wilson Road for several years.
Landing: On a good day, C3 moves from perch to perch or dives for voles, mice, and pocket gophers with a fair amount of frequency.
Perched shots are fairly easy. As far as I know, C3 is a male. He finds a snag or branch, then watches and listens for rustling in the deep grass. Interestingly, he can isolate those sounds from the sounds of passing vehicles, clicking cameras, and talking spectators.
Flight shots are considerably more difficult. You have to be set up and “on your camera” the entire time. When he leaves the perch, you must be able to follow his flight while hoping the autofocus in the camera does its job.
Win a few and lose a few! He does, too! C3 is a very capable hunter, but he comes up empty clawed once in a while.
Successful Hunter: Sometimes, the Owls eat their catch while on the ground. Other times, they fly to a nearby tree to polish it off.
Great Gray with Catch: Currently, the owls have young coming off their nests. They are hunting more to support the growing family. I expected C3 to fly towards me with his mouse, but ate it while perched on the old Aspen branch.
Resting and Watching: We had rain in the area the night before these shots were taken. Once C3 lands in the deep grass, his wings are often wet. These are some of my favorite perched shots—with its wings relaxed and drying.
Atop an old Lodgepole Pine: C3 landed in the top of this tree twice. I like to capture them lower in the trees unless the sky is blue—but I also liked the pose well enough to live with the gray sky.
C3 has a bright blue tag on one leg and a silver ring on the other. I’d like to know whether blue tags are reserved for males? C3 has a tracking device with a wire protruding from feathers on his back. These are all “man made” distractions (something all too common now in the Parks). For most purposes, I remove the tags, leg rings, and wires in Photoshop. Without doing so, I feel the beauty and integrity of the animal is compromised in my photos (by the researchers). I’m not saying “you should” remove them…only that “I do” — unless submitting images to certain kinds of magazines like Audubon or National Geographic.
Photography Notes: All of the images on this page were captured on a single morning in July using a Nikon D4 and a Tamron 150-600mm. I set the camera to Manual Mode, then set the Shutter Speed to 1/1000 or 1/1250th second. The Aperture was set to F/6.3 and up to F/7.1. I set the ISO to Auto-ISO, allowing that leg of the exposure triangle to fluctuate as needed. Most of the shots ranged between ISO 640 to ISO 2000. I was using Matrix Metering and 9 point Continuous Focus.
Owl Notes: It is often worth a drive down the Moose-Wilson Road at some point during the day. There may be chances to see Moose, Deer, Elk, Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons, Beavers, Grizzlies, Black Bears, Foxes, Pine Martens, and a variety of waterfowl. Owls, like the other species, are possible, but not guaranteed. I probably drive the road ten times to see the owl once.
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