I finally got back to Indiana to photograph these owls which over winter at areas of reclaimed coal mines. This time I had my R5 which did a great job helping me get on these owls in flight. The first evening the owls didn't appear until dusk. The second evening they began appearing by 3:30. The final evening they didn't appear until well after 4:00. The sun goes down about 5:00 this time of year. It was sunny all 3 days. Who knows why some late afternoons are much better than others. I had started home when I found this guy perched near the road my final night there. I watched him fly over my head just across the road and dive behind some tall grasses at the edge of a short-grassed field perhaps 20 feet away. I heard him hit the earth. I walked closer to see over the tall grasses and he had a vole. He flew off. Amazing unforgettable experience.
Tags: Short-eared Owl Indiana reclaimed mine grassland
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Saying good-bye to 2021!
Tags: Owl Short-eared Owl Indiana reclaimed mine grasslands
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Tags: short-eared owl owl Indiana reclaimed mine grassland the hunt
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We couldn't have had better evening lighting. Evening was much better for SEOW activity than early morning. The window with shootable light was less than an hour as the owls weren't up until 430 pm. The EXIF time isn't correct as it was not updated. We had two evenings with great light. The 2nd evening was much more productive than the first. While waiting around for owls we had some NOHA working the same fields. I spent some of that waiting time also working with sparrows notably ATSP.
Southern Indiana.
Tags: Short-eared Owl Owl Indiana grassland reclaimed mine
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Indiana. This pair has a juvenile who was born in the wild. I understand the parents were hatched in captivity and released. The male is apparently 18 years old and this is the first time he's been successful raising a hatchling to adult size. In this image they have just taken off from their overnight roosting area and are heading out to forage for the day. We were able to locate them at their overnight roosting site from the road and waited there until they flew off hoping to get images. A lot of effort for less than minute of shooting time but it was a lot of fun and I'm happy with the results. The day after this they took off 35-36 minutes earlier during the 'golden hour' and that image was my previous post.
Tags: Indiana Whooping Cranes Juvenile Whooping Cranes Cranes Cranes in flight Whoopers
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