Photographing an owl in the wild has always been one of my goals. So when I heard that a barred owl had been frequenting a local park recently, I packed up my gear and went to search for the little fellow. It didn’t take long to find him. A dead give-away was the number of photographers there with tripods and cameras set up.
Actually, there were only three photographers there, but I knew I was in the right spot. Only thing is, the owl was taking a nap in a pine tree and it was hard to get a clear shot of him. I was there for over an hour and he didn’t move much. These photos were the best I could do with the limitations the owl provided. I was using a 300mm lens and it still didn’t get close enough without having to do some cropping.
I will probably go back to the park and check it out another time.
Maralee
Through My Lens 
Darned owls do that all the time. Since they hunt at night, they sleep all day, and since they don’t want to be disturbed, they pick places to perch where it is hard to see them.
I’ve been chasing owls for so long to take photos of them but they are very elusive. I guess this one has been seen hunting in daylight so maybe there’s a chance I’ll get a better photo. We had a couple of great horned owls on a tree at our home that we could hear. We could see him with a spotlight but I wasn’t able to photograph it.
beautiful dear Maralee, you are amazing. Well captured. Thank you, love, nia
Thank you so much, Nia.
Beautiful …. It looks like he enjoy the attention he are getting … on the last photo it looks like he are smiling at you.
He are cheeky.
He certainly was getting a lot of attention. I was hoping he would wink at me or something. 🙂
Amazing captures Maralee.
Thank you, Edith.
These are really nice images, Maralee.
Thanks, Mike.
Wonderful captures. How patient you were! There is an owl near on our property that I keep hearing but never see. It is very frustrating!
We had a couple of great horned owls hanging around our house and I could hear them at night talking to each other. I was able to see one very early one morning with binoculars but it was still too dark to attempt to photograph it. Then it flew off.
Wow! It looks so big.
I think they’re fairly large, but not the largest of the owl family.
Fantastic captures! 🙂
Thank you, Inga.
These are great captures… owls are not the easiest bird to capture on camera for obvious reasons… and the darn sleeping during the day, could they not just offer us one good eye open shot… I love these captures Maralee I think the show off the bird magnificently…
Thanks, Rob. I’m going to attempt to photograph it some more as my work schedule permits. Hopefully I can get some more interesting shots rather that him just sleeping. 🙂
Great shots . . . it must have been a hoot to actually find him out there.
You’re too funny. I’m hoping to get back there to take more shots. From what I hear, he will sit on the fence and not be bothered by people passing by. I’d like to get some better shots.
Maralee,
You should have been in your hometown today. This afternoon I drove down by the coast guard station to do the turn around. There was something in the middle of the road in front of Shoreline Hotel. I looked down and was shocked to see a white owl with some markings on it. It was obviously a snowy owl. I made a u-turn and tried to take a pic with my cell phone. A man walked over to me and said that he thought the owl was injured- like a broken wing or something. The owl was able to walk across the street by itself and settled into the snow by a tree. It was really a large owl. The man said that DNR had been notified about the owl. Two hours later, I drove by, and it was still sitting in the snow. There was no answer at DNR, so I called law enforcement. They said that they knew about it since yesterday. Boo and I went down to see if it was still there at about 6:30pm, and it was gone. I am hoping that it got the help it needs. What a beautiful bird, but my cell phone pic didn’t turn out. There were no owl paparazzi in G.M. Today!
Love, Judy
I wish I could have been there to see it. I hope it is going to be okay. Thelma Hedstrom said they’ve had a great grey owl at their place. I guess I need to come to Minnesota in the winter some time.