does anyone know how to get a picture of an owl in the dark? Last night we were out trying to get a picture of a barred owl, but my pictures... or more like my flash wouldn't reach him. All I got was his eyes in the picture. Is there any kind of setting that I could use on my camera to get a picture of him? Or anything else that I could do?
I wonder if a hand-held multi-million power spot light may illuminate it enough to get a decent pic?
Hack
Probably blind the poor owl though!
Best to wait for the time when you can find the owl at its daytime roost.
Resin
Man, what a cool pic Resin. Beautiful!
Good eyes to spot it. Were you out just walking around, or did you know it would be there?
Hack
teresa, if the owls frequent your area, go for a walk during the day with head down rather than head up and look for accumulated droppings under trees. If you locate those tell-tale signs there's a reasonable chance you might find an owl in the branches above.
ok, well we're about to leave right now to go there again. We checked for droppings last night and all the ones we seen were in the middle of the road, where the trees didn't cover. We took two, military issued flashlights, very strong, thinking we would be able to see it's eyes and try to get a picture that way, but we never seen his eyes. Well, I'll see what I can get. thanks for the advice everyone! We seen 2 places that he flew away from so I'll check them first. Resin, great picture by the way.... but i'm jealous:( Hope i'm as lucky as you!
I got put onto it by other birds that were mobbing it - listen out for a clatter of 'chink-chink-chink' style alarm calls high up in a tree, most often early in the morning.
Resin
Does your camera have a night mode? Otherwise as Resin said hope to find it during the day in the morning. I have seen our Barred Owl several times during the day. I spotted mine from hearing the crows mobbing it. It was about 8:45 AM
This past week I was taking dog out at 9pm for a walk one night and right there in the tree by the driveway was perched a big Barred Owl...just too cool!
Wow, how cool is that?!!!
Ooops! Want to clarify...that pic is from last summer in the morning! I didn't get a pic of the owl the other night! My bad there....
This message was edited Aug 17, 2009 8:48 AM
Great photos, Resin and nanny! I've been trying to figure out how to get good photos of the burrowing owls, and even if I find his burrow, he doesn't come out during the day. They can sometimes be spotted in the early morning or at dusk perched, but I only get silhuettes at dusk. Sigh.
Am enjoying seeing your owls.
Keep trying teresa, maybe you'll get lucky. : )
WIB!
SW
well, I may not be getting a picture of an owl unless we use a spot light. I wouldnt' mind doing it, but I think Resin is right, it would probably hurt his eyes. We heard where they nest.... across the river. Then when it gets dark and the street lamps come on, they fly over. There are two that we know of that come across to that area. I got pictures of them but they are horrible. Atleast I got to see them. I have always wanted to see an owl. I got several recordings of them calling to each other right in front of us, the two owls talking to one another in trees side by side. Here's the pictures that I can't even correct with my Adobe program.
nanny, awesome picture! Thanks for sharing them, I love to see owl pictures.
I know this probably sounds weird since I live in Texas, but I got to see an armadillo for the first time last night too, and I got to touch him. I got a picture of him but again it's not good because it was so dark. He was so cute.
Cool! But be careful out there at night!!
oh we are. We are probably too careful because last year we did see a red-tailed hawk fly down on the ground and opened up his wings for like a whole minute, and we were wondering what he was doing. Then we seen him jump on something, and pick at it with his beak, then when he flew off he flew right over us and we could see that he had a BIG diamondback rattlesnake! So yes we are very careful. Thanks nanny:)
How cool to see an armadillo. I bet you thanked your lucky stars that the hawk had a firm hold of the rattler. Wouldn't be nice to have that land on your head as you're out for a peaceful stroll.
teresa, nice snap of the armadillo.
Here in Ga we have a great number of them. They will tear up your yard digging up their food.
Hack
Ha ha, yeah Margaret. Actually I said "thank God"! Because we were headed that way and if it weren't for that hawk we may have walked up on it! I have never realized that a hawks talons were so BIG! We told the park ranger about it and he said that hawks do that (spread their wings out) so that the rattler would strike at it's wings instead of at him. It made sense, and I think that's pretty smart for the hawk to know to do that.
Found a snake and once a dead rabbit at the tip top of a tree. While I didn't see it, I do believe that either a hawk or an owl was responsible. Haven't seen the burrowing owls. Hope that the they are still there.
WIB,
SW
