A few more shots from last Saturday . . .

So I had quickly gone through my photos with my father on Saturday and pulled out a few that we liked. One of the things that we forgot was that we had seen a Rough-Legged Hawk (Dark Morph). It basically flew righ over our heads while we were watching the owls. So it was a few quick shots of the bird and then back to the owls. I had forgotten about the shot until I was able to sort through the photos today. So here is a shot of the Dark Morph and another shot of an owl, that truly look like it's built for speed!

Rough-Legged Hawk (Dark Morph):


Short-eared bullet:

Camera Equipment

After posting my Owl and Hawk pictures, I had a number of people ask about what kind of equipment I was using. For almost all of the shots posted on the blog (there are a few exceptions) I use a Canon 20D and Sigma 50-500 (commonly referred to as the "Bigma"). I have been pretty successful with this lens, although if I could afford it, I sure would like to get a 500mm lens with Image Stabilization. This would make those hand held shots a lot more likely to succeed. Thanks again to all that visited and asked questions.

Sincerely,
Craig

Short-eared and Rough-Legged

My father and I went to Carlos Avery again tonight to see the Short-eared Owls. We had a great night seeing a Northern Shrike (a new bird for both of us) a number of Rough-Legged Hawks and at least 12 or so Short-eared owls. We both had a great time seeing the birds, walking down the trails, and finally at home looking through the photos I had taken on our visit. I have to say it was a really nice time. I took a lot of pictures tonight so I'm going to post 4 photos instead of my normal 2. I hope that you enjoy . . .

Short-eared Owls:





Rough-Legged Hawk:

Short Earred Owls

Well, there was an impromptu meeting of birders up at Carlos Avery WMA due to the many Short Earred Owls flying over the marshes. It was the first time I had seen one of these owls and we all got quite a show. I would guess there were 8-10 owls flying around just before dusk. I took a lot of photos, but with the low light conditions and moving targets, I wasn't terribly successful at getting a good shot. Either way, it was a very neat experience for me. I'm hoping to get out there again since the birds are supposedly still present. Here's the best shot that I got.