Great Gray Owl

ronwoodcraft · Feb 22, 2016

We were having a small spring snow shower when I first spotted this owl, which might explain why it was out hunting in the middle of the day. Had a difficult time with the fast changing lighting conditions. He wasn't too concerned about me, but when I got too close he would fly a short distance to another perch. I was only there for a few minutes, and the weather changed from snow to sun. When the sun came out the owl flew into the dark woods. I saw one in Oregon that looked twice as big as this one.

tamrock · Feb 22, 2016

Very good Ron :thumbsup:

l think you should submit those to Nat.Geo's monthly photos.

old digger · Feb 22, 2016

WOW! Amazing shots of a beautiful bird. :thumbsup:

Old Dude · Feb 22, 2016

I have to agree with tamrock.....those are quality pics. Beautiful bird and great selection of shots.

donj · Feb 22, 2016

Beautiful really sharp images.

rginn · Feb 23, 2016

Like those in flight pics. Excellent!

lost it · Feb 23, 2016

fantastic pictures Ron that owl looks magnificent

stefen · Feb 23, 2016

Oregon Viking · Feb 23, 2016

Sweet!!

Remind me again what camera you are using?

ronwoodcraft · Feb 23, 2016

Oregon Viking said:
Sweet!! Remind me again what camera you are using?

Thanks Viking, I use a Canon 5D III. and a Canon 400mm lens.

fyrffytr1 · Feb 23, 2016

I wish I had the talent to take pictures like yours. If I tried to get an in flight shot it would come out as a still life where the bird was a second before I hit the shutter button!

Oregon Viking · Feb 23, 2016

ronwoodcraft said:
Thanks Viking, I use a Canon 5D III. and a Canon 400mm lens.

I just researched that camera....wicked!
I have observed ,most, if not all of your pics posted here, you got the touch!

tamrock · Feb 25, 2016

Is it this what you have Ron? Plus, what is the frame rate your shooting at?

Kevin in IN · Feb 25, 2016

What a beautiful creature. Great pictures. Thank you.

BosnMate · Feb 25, 2016

Great pictures as usual Ron.

ronwoodcraft · Feb 25, 2016

fyrffytr1 said:
I wish I had the talent to take pictures like yours. If I tried to get an in flight shot it would come out as a still life where the bird was a second before I hit the shutter button!

Thanks fyrffytr1, I think I just got lucky with these flying pics. I do know it's easier with a large bird than a small one. Most of the time I completely miss or get a blurred blob. That's why I take as many shots as I can just hoping to get one good one.

ronwoodcraft · Feb 25, 2016

tamrock said:
Is it this what you have Ron? Plus, what is the frame rate your shooting at?

That's the same camera, but that lens is a 100-400mm. I have a 400mm 5.6 L prime lens ( Fixed focal length no zoom )

Not sure about frame rate. I keep it set on the one where you hold the button shutter button down, and it shoots repeatedly as fast as it can. Here's the image info for one of the flying shots. I see I had a shutter speed of 1/800. Surprised it caught the flying bird at all. Usually need a shutter speed twice that fast for flying birds. Another reason I got this camera is it works great with High ISO for low light conditions such as this.( Low noise at high ISO )

File Name 054.CR2
Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Firmware Firmware Version 1.1.3
Shooting Date/Time 2/22/2016 1:50:09 PM
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) 6.3
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 1250
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF400mm f/5.6L USM
Focal Length 400.0mm
Image Size 5760x3840
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
AF Configuration Tool Case 6
Tracking sensitivity 2
Accel./decel. tracking 1
AF point auto switching 1
AF area select mode Spot AF
Picture Style Landscape
Sharpness 4
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction Disable
High ISO speed noise reduction Standard
Highlight tone priority Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer Disable
Peripheral illumination correction Enable
Chromatic aberration correction Enable
Dust Delete Data No
File Size 28559KB
Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting

ronwoodcraft · Feb 25, 2016

Here' one more I got while I had the opportunity. Believe it or not, it was hard to get him to look at me directly. He acted like I was being a nuisance. He knew I was there, but kept searching the meadow looking for mice.