The worm

Gallery: AvianPosted May 7, 2012284 views16 comments

Burrowing owls feed on a lot of different things. Here the adult male is bringing back an early morning breakfast to its owlets in the form of a worm. In coming posts I will show some of the other things these owls eat. Including one think I would never of thought possible.

For those of you who have never tried to capture burrowing owls in flight let me tell you, they are one of the toughest in-flight subject that exists. They are very small and very fast. Moreover, they fly close to the ground and thus always have BGs that blend in and make it very difficult for AF tracking.

Please view the larger version for max details. Thanks so much.

Canon 1DM4
Canon 500mm f/4
ISO 1000
1/2500s
f/6.3
Manual exp.
Hand Held
Bit of NR on BG only

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on May 7, 2012 at 1:47 PM

Ron: Very high degree of difficulty shot. Nicely captured with great sharpness. The head on pose is pretty cool. Of course the worm just adds to the overall image.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on May 7, 2012 at 3:25 PM

Cool shot, very nice with sharpness, good blur BG and angry looking. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on May 7, 2012 at 4:19 PM

Ron if i looked at this for a week still would not find a nit,excellent

Keith..

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on May 7, 2012 at 4:58 PM

The position of the owl skimming the grasses shows well the altitude this bird was flying-the background highlights the bird perfectly, and the eyes are riveting. Outstanding image Ron.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on May 7, 2012 at 5:25 PM

Excellent work, Ron. I would never be able to do this with my rig, unless I got really lucky.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Douglas Graham on May 7, 2012 at 9:21 PM

Love the worm......its a great reference for how small this bird is. Nice shot Ron.

Registered on May 14, 2009, 123 Posts, 522 Comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on May 7, 2012 at 9:33 PM

Well you certainly nailed this one Ron! Love the head-on approach w/ the worm dangling from the beak. Nice choice for DOF as well!

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on May 7, 2012 at 10:20 PM

Great image in even way. Well done.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on May 8, 2012 at 10:54 AM

Great shot! I really like that dangling worm and IMO the sprigs of foreground grass add to the shot.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Roberts on May 8, 2012 at 12:48 PM

This is an awesome shot. Great subject matter and excellent technicals. My only comment would be that this one begs for a 2/1 crop. Nice job.

Registered on March 9, 2011, 69 Posts, 501 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on May 8, 2012 at 8:17 PM

Another stunning capture Ron.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on May 9, 2012 at 12:14 AM

I love the larger version of this. The owl is so sharp and clear against the blurry background. Wonderful work.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on May 10, 2012 at 12:02 PM

If avian photography was like high diving, where the difficulty of the dive is a factor in the score, this shot would be at the top end. Excellent capture, tack sharp and beautifully composed. The worm takes it over the top. First rate stuff, Ron.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on May 10, 2012 at 5:11 PM

I like this one pretty much. sharpness, composition and obviously the worm. My only nit is that the worm's head is not visible.

Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by Gorazd Golob on May 11, 2012 at 1:54 AM

Very good photo. Nice pose and worm is great, last posing for him/her/it. And great timing.

Regards, Gorazd

Registered on December 28, 2010, 23 Posts, 53 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on May 11, 2012 at 3:38 PM

hello Ron

Great Image, with Great difficulty factor !! Those Eyes are So Piercing & Sharp. A Great Image .

What is the Crop ?

TFS

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments