Sunday 4 January 2015

Owling at Silly O'Clock!

Having spoke to the nocturnal Owl whisperer Chidders yesterday about the local Barn Owls and camera settings etc, I decided to have an early start today. I am quite used to getting up early but when Chiddy said they tend to show well between 2.30 - 4.30am I was a little shocked to say the least. After having a few hours sleep I woke up at 2am and was soon on the road heading to the site. Not surprisingly I didn't see many cars and I soon arrived on site and set about finding my quarry. Chidders had set me up with some different settings to try and it wasn't long until I could see the familiar sight of a Barn Owl sitting on a post. I drove up slowly and was able to get a couple of shots before it disappeared into the night. I ended up seeing 5 Barn Owls and 1 Short eared Owl. As can be seen I hope in the top shot, the settings worked well and this is probably the best shot quality wise I have so far.

Barn Owl

Chiddy turned up not long after and we spent a few hours watching them at rest and hunting but unfortunately the fog arrived and it was quite thick in places. Although I still saw Barn Owls I don't think they liked the lights shining off the fog for as soon as I saw one in the headlights they were off. I would have liked to get a few more shots using the settings which worked well but hopefully next weekend I would have taken delivery of a Canon 7d which I have just bought and see how this performs on the owls. Despite not many shots taken today, still a superb time out watching the owls and good company with Chiddy. I can't wait to return!

Barn Owl

7 comments:

  1. very nice upping the iso worked a treat,lose the wire next time lol

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  2. Chiddy beat me to it, just the wire to get rid of, then perfect shots Marc :-)

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  3. Marc.
    Love the owl pictures, well worth getting up early for, look forward to seeing some more

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  4. Far out Marc, that is perfection.

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  5. A great set Marc, would like to see them. Hope you enjoy the 7D when you get it.

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  6. Well worth getting out of bed for,amazing detail.
    John.

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  7. WOW, getting up that early was well worth the effort!!
    We have a colony here on our property living in the woods but I never dared tried to get close by fear they would roost elsewhere!
    Thanks for your comment on Dragonfly World, I cant' wait to see more of your own picture there!
    2015 might well be the year we move to Australia so I might not be able to contribute myself much to that blog, it would be wonderful to be able to count on all our authors :)
    Keep well, Marc, many more interesting observations and pic opportunities!

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