Great Horned Owl Babies 4/6/24
A neighbor messaged me on Nextdoor asking if I’d be interested in photographing the baby owls near her house. I said “Yes please!!” I went over to scope it out and take a few test shots. It’s a bit of a challenge since it’s over 200 feet away and there are a lot of branches and bark in the way. Add to that, it was pretty windy and the owls are high up in the tree, so it was swaying a lot, making focus problematic, as well as trying to line them up without branches on their faces. I tried a few spots closer but couldn’t get any decent angles, so went back to the neighbor’s yard and took a few more photos. But by that time the sun had warmed things up enough that heat distortion was turning all the shots into mush. I decided to come back another day, earlier in the morning and with a bigger lens.
Given the conditions, I was pretty happy with how the photos came out. And honestly, it’s really hard not to smile at baby owl photos even if the shots aren’t “perfect”. I didn’t get any shots of the mother. According to the neighbor, she hasn’t seen mom in the nest for the past couple days. We’re hoping everything is OK and that mom is just spending more time out of the nest now that the kids are a little older. Big thanks to the Nextdoor neighbor for inviting me over to witness and photograph such a beautiful sight.
