Great Horned Owl, Hawk, Warbler?

[Aloicious]

Was able to get out shooting again today at a local state park called Antelope island...went on a LONG hike to the top of a mountain hoping to see some big horned sheep and saw NOTHING...then caught these guys on my last stop before going home.

Adult Male Great Horned Owl (my second owl ever! I know, the branch in the face, but I had to choose between this and like 50 branches covering him almost completely from any other angle I figured it looked better with it in the picture than trying to clone it out in such an important area)

he let me get pretty close, I got a bunch of pics of him, they're all really similar, he didn't move much, some have a few more branches in the way, this is a 100% crop of the above shot to see his intense eyes:

I *THINK* this is an immature coopers hawk...still not great at identifying some of these raptors

and this one I'm kindof stumped on, I think its a warbler of some kind. but I can't figure out what kind exactly, any help is appreciated.

 

[Aloicious]

I found out #4 is a white crowned sparrow.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Wow, the owl shot is fabulous!! The 100% crop is nuts!!
The hawk is gorgeous also The sparrow doesn't seem to fit with the other two, perhaps a personal thing though since they are all over the place here But that owl... yum The branch really doesn't bother me in it since it blends with his plumage so well.

 

[sm4him]

Yeah, I was about to say, that last one is a white-crowned sparrow, because I just got one of those myself this weekend and had to get someone to identify it.

I'm terrible at raptors--I've had it explained countless times, but for the life of me, when I see a picture of one, they all look the same--Cooper's, Red-Tailed, Sharp-Shinned, I just can't tell the difference. Especially when they're perched like that.

AWESOME shots though, especially the owl and the hawk. Man, I wish I could find me some owls!

 

[coastalconn]

Nice shots! The GHO is awesome.. I'm thinking falcon but can't tell for sure on my phone..

 

[dudley_53]

I agree on the immature coopers hawk.

 

[dudley_53]

Very nice pics, btw. The GHO is fabulous!

 

[Aloicious]

Thanks everyone, the hawk is a hard one, it might be a Merlin too, but they're not usually around here outside of winter, which is why I'm kind of leaning towards a juvi coopers...but it could be a Merlin that is just hanging around a little longer than normal.

 

[MSnowy]

Great set.

 

[coastalconn]

I knew it looked familiar and falcon like! I goggled Taiga Merlin and ironically my shot on flickr was the first search results, lol! This was from last year. I should fix it one of these days...

Taiga Merlin by krisinct, on Flickr

 

[Christina416]

The owl is stunning!

 

[matthewo]

Love the owl, i have not seen one of those in the wild yet

 

[Aloicious]

I knew it looked familiar and falcon like! I goggled Taiga Merlin and ironically my shot on flickr was the first search results, lol! This was from last year. I should fix it one of these days...

yeah, I'm starting to think it is a merlin, its been a colder than normal spring so far so I wouldn't be surprised if its just staying in the area longer than normal.

 

[Aloicious]

Thanks everyone, I was way excited to get the owl. in talking with one of the rangers, its a wild owl that has taken up residence on the island there, there's supposed to be a female around too, but I couldn't find her. I'll have to keep an eye out next time I'm out there.

 

[baturn]

re; 2nd owl. still waiting for my 1st. All very nice. well done!