Posts in Category: owl

Spectacled Owl chick

Spectacled Owl: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula Costa Rica — I shared one photo of this immature Spectacled Owl, just coming into adult plumage, when we first saw it in December, but it deserves more attention. Edwin, our guide to all things Costa Rican, managed to spot it deep back in the dense rainforest, well off the trail. Finding a line of sight was not easy, but it is such a good bird. Spectacled Owls roost out in daylight, and are among the most likely owls to see in Costa Rica, but still, a great find on Edwin’s part. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 and 5000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Spectacled Owl with Cope

Spectacled Owl: Gaupiles, Costa Rica — Every year when we visit, Cope has known where at least one Owl is roosting during the day. In fact, it was owls that first took us to Cope’s. I asked my guide, on my very first trip to Costa Rica, if we could see an owl on one of our afternoons with no scheduled activity…and he said, “Well I know this guy…” We have been going to Cope’s every trip since. The Spectacled Owl has been faithful each year. Some years we get better views. Some years we see two owls together. Some years we see a chick. And twice we have also seen Great Crested Owl in the same area. But always owls! Cope is very careful not to disturb the owls and we always remain at a respectful distance and don’t sometimes, have the clearest line of sight in the dense second growth area where they roost. But we always see them. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/80th (way dark in the forest!)

Tropical Screech Owl

Tropical Screech Owl: Hotel Bougainvillea, San Jose, Costa Rica — On most trips to Costa Rica, we have to make a special effort to see an owl. When we stay at the Bougainvillea, there is a Costa Rican Pygmy Owl that has been seen near the back of the gardens, and we always look, but I have yet to see it. And later in the trip, we visit Cope in Galupiles, and he generally has at least one owl staked out. This year we walked up on two owls unexpectedly. This Tropical Screech Owl was hanging out with its mate in a dense grove of Bamboo in the Bougainvillea gardens on most of our folks first morning in Costa Rica, on what turned out to be a very rainy day. The female was so far back-in that photography was next to impossible, and I don’t have any sharp shots of her…but the male was close enough to the edge of the grove so I could find a line-of-sight for a few photos…using my low-light mode and multi-frame noise reduction. (The second unexpected owl was a Spectacled Owl we came up on on the grounds of Danta Corcovado on the Osa Peninsula. We would not have seen either one if not for the incredibly sharp eyes and extraordinary awareness of our guide Edwin 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/60th.

My first Snowy of 2021

Snowy Owl: Biddeford Pool, Maine, USA — I went out yesterday to do a poke around for Snowy Owls. There have been several in York County this past week (and at least one close encounter to go by the pics posted on Facebook). I did not have a close encounter, far from it, but I did manage to find one Snowy Owl, after several hours of visiting likely spots from past years and places they have been reported this year on eBird. This one was right at the narrows at Biddeford Pool…I was parked in the town parking by the market, but it was all the way across the channel on the other bank…barely a speck to the naked eye…and not clearly identifiable as a Snowy Owl. Could have been an upright white rock. I had to watch it for a while through the viewfinder at 1200mm on the Sony Rx10iv before it moved and I was certain it was an owl. Even then it only rotated its head. Not ideal for photography. This shot is at 1200mm equivalent using Clear Image digital zoom on the Sony, and then I enlarged it in Pixomator Photo Pro and cropped so it is at least the equivalent of a 3000mm lens. To make matters more difficult, it is a Snowy Owl…a difficult subject for exposure at any time. In the bright November sun, I had to dial the Exposure Compensation down to -1.3 EV to hold any detail in the white feathers. I tried even -2 EV but it still did not keep the highlights in check. The best I can say of this photo is that it is definitely a Snowy Owl. 🙂 It does give me hope for at least one close encounter this winter. We shall see. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent optical zoom plus 2x Clear Image zoom. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. -1.3 EV. Processed in Polarr, Pixelmator Pro, and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th.

Spectacled Owl, Costa Rica

The bird of the day for our second full day on the Point and Shoot Nature Photography Adventure in Costa Rica was probably this immature Spectacled Owl, which Cope found for us a few miles from his home in La Union de Gaupiles in Limon, Costa Rica. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Anti-motion blur mode, with supplemental light from a light cube attached to the flash shoe. Processed in Polarr.

Eastern Screech Owl, Magee Marsh

There are often Eastern Screech Owls nesting or roosting along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, and this year there were two…sitting out approximately 100 yards apart. They were there every day I visited during the Biggest Week in American Birding. There was often a spotting scope on one of them, effectively blocking the boardwalk and creating a owl-jam that was difficult to navigate. The panel shows both individuals, three shots of one, and one shot of the other (bottom right). Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and assembled in Framemagic.

African Scopes Owl

African Scopes Owl, Kruger National Park, South Africa

When we stopped for lunch our first day in Kruger National Park in South Africa, our Ranger/Driver asked if I had seen the Owl. Of course I had not so she showed me a tree with incident tape strung up around it and an African Scopes Owl sitting in a fork tight against the trunk, just above eye-level. Apparently it had been there for some time. I maneuvered around the taped off area to find an open line of sight for this shot. 

Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed in Lightroom. 

He’s not heavy, he’s my brother…

Great Horned Owl Chicks, Magee Marsh, Ohio

These two Great Horned Owl chicks were out on the branch for the first time yesterday. We have been seeing them, along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh among the warblers, deep down in the crevice below this perch. At one time both owls were up on the branch, and then one of them apparently decided to go back into the crevice…but it looks like maybe his brother stood on him before he could get all the way down. Looks like. And it makes a good story. He’s not heavy, he’s my brother.

Nikon P900 at 1500mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 200 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.

Specticaled Owl

Specticaled Owl, Rio Santiago Lodge, Honduras

Rio Santiago Lodge in Honduras is where you go to photograph hummingbirds, but over the past year the Lodge has had several attractions besides the hummers. Just after I was there in February 2015, a newly fledged Specticaled Owl moved into the area behind the lodge, and beginning last fall was seen regularly within a short hike of the Lodge. The bird is now just about a year old, and can still be found, most days. The guides at the lodge keep track of its comings and goings and generally know about where to look…consequently it is now perhaps the most photographed Specticaled Owl in the world :).

And what an amazing bird it is. Beautiful in all the ways any owl is…but spectacular in its facial pattern. On the day I was there, it was somewhat obscured by branches…but still an amazing sight.

Nikon P900 at 1800mm equivalent field of view. 1/30th @ ISO 800 @ f6.3. (Pretty good for hand-held at 1/30th second.) Processed in Lightroom.

Eastern Screech Owl

Eastern Screech Owl. Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX

There has been a Screech Owl in this nest box at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas for at least the past two years…and it right around a corner in the trail from the Common Paraque that has been roosting beside the path for past 6 years. Two great birds, reliable with a few dozen yards of each other. World-class Birding Center indeed! For those who are new to owls, and Eastern Screech Owls in particular, this fellow is small…not much bigger than a Robin.

Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. Flash aided exposure at 1/200th @ ISO 200 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.