Some Owls

Little Owl

Tawny Owl

I've done a bit of 'Owling'  in the last few weeks.  These are the best of my efforts so far this winter.  Both were taken within 100 meters of each other on the same evening.  They were digiscoped with a Nikon V1, Swarovski ATS 80 HD, and 20-60x eyepiece.  They're not the sharpest shots ever, but were taken without flash on a windy night, so fairly pleasing.

Wowl!

Wow, an Owl!

Carrie and I went out for a quick look for owls last night. PH should have been coming over but has fallen foul of flu. We saw two Barn Owls and this Tawny. This one stayed long enough for a couple of quick digiscoped shots before flying off in to the fog.

I used an iso of 500 (ie fairly high) to try and get a reasonable shutter speed and stop blurring. We were about 15 meters from the bird so I could fit it all in my scope.

Kit used:

Swaro ATS 80 HD, 20x eyepiece, universal adapter, Canon S90, self-timer.

More wols

Here are a few more Tawny Owl shots from recent owl prowls. The header image is one Paul Hackett took digiscoping, with just the light of the torch for illumination. And yes, the bottom bird was very confiding!

A tale of two shots

Had a super night out chasing Owls around the local lanes with Paul Hackett last night. We had two lovely Tawny Owls that sat long enough for us to take some snaps of them.

The two shots above are taken with two very different methods. The top shot is digiscoped, with just the light of the lamp illuminating the bird. This is really difficult and relies on a wide-spread of light from the lamp, the bird being the optimum distance away, and a co-operative bird. The bottom is a far better option - a DSLR and flashgun - much faster to setup and the light is superior because of the flash.

I like the DSLR shot much better, but the challenge of getting a cracking shot digiscoped is far greater. I will keep trying...

Tawnies on ice

Our local Tawny Owls seem to be having a tough time of it at the moment. Lots of snow and ice still on the ground is making it hard for them to hunt efficiently. These two chaps were hunting the road sides just outside my village.

Brown Owl

We found this lovely Tawny Owl just outside Southill village. It was extremely cooperative, and presumably just digesting its prey (which you can see surrounding its talons). I think it could be a rat?

I think perhaps a bit more Owling is in the offing over the coming weeks...