Barred Owl: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, December 2022 — We were on our way back from Christmas dinner with my wife’s local immediate family, with sun already setting here in the short days of December, and we were talking about looking for Snowy Owls and Eagles behind the Catholic Church which sits out half way across the marshes in Wells, when, there on a wire above the road, was what certainly could have been a Snowy Owl. It was silhouetted against the open sky and I was past it before I could stop. We backed the car up and I parked half off the road and fumbled my camera out and got it set for multi-frame noise reduction, which I knew I would need in the low light, and climbed out of the car. In the camera viewfinder, at 600mm equivalent, it was a Barred Owl, not a Snowy, but still. Like most Owls, it knew I was there, but was not terribly concerned, as I worked around and down the opposite edge of the road to get bit closer. Such a gift! Terrible light and all, but I spent 5 minutes photographing it…so intent I forgot to breathe as much as I should have. When I got home it was a processing challenge to make the most of the low light, back-lit exposures, but still…such a gift for Christmas Day 2022. My wife emailed her sister, and it turns out the owl is a well known local character, and often hunts that stretch of road in twilight, waiting for car headlights to highlight an unwary rodent…as owls do. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 2000 @ f4. 1/500th. Plus 1.7EV.