FINALLY!!!! Introducing Great Horned Owl And Owlets

TheNevadanStig · May 7, 2014

Well, if you've read much of my threads/comments, I have been wanting some owl action since I took up wildlife photography. Around here, owls are not common at all. I've lived in the area 10 years, and spend a good deal of time outdoors, and have seen 1 barn owl that entire time. But today that changed.
I can't express how surprised I was at the size of these things. I'd say the biggest bird I've gotten close to is a red-tailed hawk. These babies who can't even fly yet where about that size. I shot them for a while then finally found momma, and boy was she impressive. I'm really surprised by how comfortable they all were with me there. I tried as hard as I could making noises to get good eye contact with momma owl, but she could care less. The babies were really intrigued ever time I crinkled an empty water bottle. I originally thought there was only two, but reviewing pics I believe there were three.

OK, done with all the blabbering. On to the pics:

The Owlets:

162 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

177 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

182 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

274 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

On to Momma Owl:

336 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

354 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

358 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

421 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

wyogirl · May 7, 2014

the last three are GREAT owl expressions!!

NancyMoranG · May 7, 2014

Am so excited for you, I have yet to get an owl shot!
nicely captured.
Nancy

limr · May 7, 2014

Great shots!

That momma is totally giving you the stinkeye

manaheim · May 7, 2014

Awesome pictures. You're lucky momma didn't eat you.

MSnowy · May 7, 2014

Great set!

Raj_55555 · May 7, 2014

It's so strange that there used to be so many of these around where I live, and since I started photography they all seem to have migrated somewhere else

Great capture stig, my fav being #2 & #4. But how did you get that almost head on #7 shot? Did you climb those trees?

CdTSnap · May 7, 2014

I usually find bird shots boring, but these are cool!

illuminating_light · May 7, 2014

Great shots, although Momma did not look amused

sm4him · May 7, 2014

Gaaaahhhh, EVERYbody is getting OWL pics, and I still can't find a single stinkin' owl!!!! (I can't find any that don't stink, either).

:jealous:

wl_failure:

:lmao:

Beautiful shots! But I'm still jealous...

DarkShadow · May 7, 2014

Yep no owls for me yet. Nice set of owls you lucky one.

BillM · May 7, 2014

I believe the look she gave you in the last shot was telling you the shoot was over lol

TamiAz · May 7, 2014

I love owls.. These are great shots. I love the expressions in the last three shot. Too funny!!

coastalconn · May 7, 2014

Woohoo! way to go! They should be hopping around on the branches and getting ready to fly.. Wish I still had 2 owlets in the woods

TheNevadanStig · May 7, 2014

Raj_55555 said:
It's so strange that there used to be so many of these around where I live, and since I started photography they all seem to have migrated somewhere else

Great capture stig, my fav being #2 & #4. But how did you get that almost head on #7 shot? Did you climb those trees?

Nope. Whistled at it, and it leaned down. It was probably a good 30-40 feet up for all the pictures. The nest was relatively low actually, maybe 12 feet or so off the ground.

manaheim said:
Awesome pictures. You're lucky momma didn't eat you.

Actually, it crossed my mind lol. Just the other night I watched a documentary on the snowy owl and one of the snowies actually put a camera man in the hospital.

coastalconn said:
Woohoo! way to go! They should be hopping around on the branches and getting ready to fly.. Wish I still had 2 owlets in the woods

I went back tonight during the evening cause the wife really wanted to see them. I actually believe there is three of them in there, I can only get an angle on two of them though. It looked like one was thinking of starting to climb. I was hoping to get better directional light but we had some storm clouds spotting over. I ended up tucking the camera in the sweatshirt and heading back in a drizzle. I might have got some better ones then these though in the small breaks, I'm transferring them now.

And on the way home we saw a MASSIVE nest with a MASSIVE bird in it. I'm thinking it might be a golden eagle. I'm going to try and check it in the morning, the only problem is it's in the flats and I'm not sure I can get there without getting mired. I've been thinking of renting a 500MM lens for a day or two, that might be the perfect excuse to pull the trigger on it.