The New York State Rare Bird Alert reported a small invasion of Snowy Owls on Long Island. Three sightings had been reported, the closest of which was Jones Beach. The next morning, I set out for the park before sunrise.

The thermometer read 27 degrees when I arrived at the beach. Excited, I took off down the path through the dunes with my F5, 400/2.8 AF-S, TC20E and Wimberley equipped Gitzo 1548 slung over my shoulder, with a Kinesis Safari Beanbag under my arm. I met up with two other photographers, Paul and Shawn, who were seeking the same quarry.

Paul and I pursued an owl we had spotted to the east and after futilely trying to approach it, we turned around. Heading back, Shawn waved the two of us over to attempt a few shots of another nearby owl (the camaraderie displayed by these photographers was a rarity in and of itself). After this owl went aloft and landed a short distance away, we jointly discussed the best method of approach.

I went first, crawling on my belly through the dunes with my beanbag, camera and lens cradled across my arms. As I inched my way closer, I stopped every few feet and fired off a few frames, taking advantage of the scene before me. With Shawn and Paul close behind, I thought of what we must have looked like to a non-birding enthusiast, and chuckled as visions of Desert Storm came to mind. I continued my exhausting quest for 20 minutes before the owl once again took flight. At that point, we decided the owl had enough for the day.

As I got in my car to head home, I felt lucky that nature had opened yet another window of photographic opportunity, and that I had made new friends. Thank-you Paul and Shawn for sharing the experience, and for making this a memorable event. This image is truly a joint effort.

Exposure - Incident metered (closed down 1/2 stop for white highlights), 1/400 @ 6.7 on Fuji Provia 100F, manual exposure and focus, beanbag on sand.

CG-NPN