Short-eared Owl

This is the same male as the one I posted on 6/27 but taken the day before. Lighting conditions were marginal, especially for flight shots, so I had to pump up the ISO and deal with the aftermath.

I was fascinated with the behavior of this male as he hunted and then fed his family. We could usually see him hunting up to about a half mile away and always on his own territory which he defended vigorously against other owls. He would always carry the prey in his talons and land on one of several favorite perches very near to the nest. But when he flew from the perch to the nest (on the ground at the base of a sagebrush) he would always transfer the vole from his talons to his beak just before or during takeoff. This shot was taken just after the transfer from talons to beak.

And he would make us laugh as he delivered the food to the female because he did it in a manner that looked very much like he was afraid of her - almost like he was fearful that she would make a meal of him too, black widow style... We loved watching these owls, low light or not.

7D, 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, -1/3 EV, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window on 6/25/10, cropped to 53% of original image, exposure adjustment in ACR (should have been at 0 EV), NR on background and a small area of the bird, no further adjustments or processing, natural light, not baited

Comments/critique appreciated