Great Horned Owls at Blackwater NWR, Maryland (+video)
The highlight of my trip to Blackwater this weekend was spotting a pair of Great Horned Owls. They were perched along side of the road, and when I stopped they flew off a bit and that's when I got the handful of photos. The only other wild owl I have EVER seen was along this same patch of road.
Check out a few more photos and a short (wobbly, sorry) video clip.
The owls were calling back and forth to eachother, and that's what the
video was meant to show off...
youtube.com/watch?v=ic9O2DLQCLM
Comments and faves
Nikographer [Jon] (58 months ago | reply)
rivadock4 (58 months ago | reply)
They really are hard to see. Good find Jon.
Phillip Chitwood (58 months ago | reply)
With all the great views you get, perhaps we should take up a collection to buy you a Nikkor 600mm f/4D ED-IF II AF-S Telephoto! Could you loan it to me sometime? ;-)
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makeupanid added this photo to her favorites. (58 months ago)
makeupanid (58 months ago | reply)
I always love ending the day with owls!
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Nikographer [Jon] (58 months ago | reply)
@rivadock4, yeah, I know, I've been looking for owls for a long time and have only seen the 3 total, in months of looking....
@phillip, I'll take whatever handout lenses you can find for me, lol, but on this day it was overcast in the morning, and the owls are designed to blend in to the trees, so it would have been a challenge no matter the gear.
What I might do next time is walk the road, or bring a bicycle... so I can approach the area more stealthily... The road's a challenge though, one lane in each direction, and just a small grass shoulder (no parking). I won't go in to the details of how I stopped to get the photos, but suffice it to say I was extremely cautious and watched the road constantly and left rather quickly since there really wasn't a proper place to stop/park, and the birds were either on private property or protected wildlife area, which had no access either way... All photos were from the road's edge.
And the kicker is that when I first saw one of them, they were literally at the roads edge!!! So, I look at the overall encounter as very cool, but technically I blew it since they flew off because of me (before I got any photos).
During other similar encounters in this area I've passed by something I've seen, in order to approach a second time more slowly and hoping for better results. This time seeing the owl just made me stop quick, and that probably was what spooked them off...
Hot Flash Photography (58 months ago | reply)
Just seeing them like this is a neat deal let alone getting a decent shot. So hat's off to you, Jon.
Synapped (Not commenting much) (58 months ago | reply)
Cool! I hear owls (dunno what kind) in my back yard but never catch a glimpse of them. I keep meaning to sit out there sometime and watch for them... This inspires me. Crazy to be that close and never go looking, but I'll go to the wildlife refuge to look for birds!!
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ricmcarthur (58 months ago | reply)
Nice find Jon. I'm always looking for owls but they are too good at hiding in plain sight.