Set out for my 2nd day at Fowler's Beach hoping to get some better photographs of the short eared owls than what I got the day before. Unfortunately, the lighting conditions were no better on Monday than they were on Sunday by the time I got there.
And then, don't you know, someone had spotted the Snowy!!! A bit of a trek to get there, but WORTH IT!!!
If I had gotten there an hour earlier, there would have been some good sunlight on him, and the shots would have been better. But I spent some time driving around first, playing with my new polarizing filter before heading to the owl fields, so I missed the best light. Nonetheless, I took quite a few shots, and this was about the best I got.
As I stood there photographing him, the whole bucket-list-item feeling just washed all over me, and I had to shed a tear or two. Sheesh. What a nerd!!! :-)
Have to say, on Sunday, my first day over there this weekend, there were so many people standing around that I knew SOMETHING was going on. I had read that the short eared owls were putting on quite a show, and I had taken the babies over there earlier in the week, but we hadn't seen anything. So the sight of so many people around seemed like a good sign. Sure enough, the owls were putting on a show. They were my first owl shots ever, and were pretty bad considering the lack of good light and the fact that they were a fair distance away, but I learned a lot from the people around me and enjoyed the camaraderie. However, my sweet-assed lens (Canon 100-400 - the new one!) was a BABY compared to the lenses around me!!! HA!!!! And all the tripods with their Gimble or Wimble (or whatever they're called) heads - crazy!!! I didn't stand a chance!!! Lots of binoculars and scopes to go with those cameras, too. Anyway, at one point, I was looking thru my lens in a different direction than everyone else and I saw something pure white that was way too big to be a seagull, flying along and over the tree line in the distance. I called out to those around me, but no one really paid me and my baby lens much mind. I did snap a frame or two, but it was obviously too far away to be much more than a blur. DH and I looked at it when I got home Sunday night, and he agreed it had a boxy shape to it, but who could really tell anything from the blur I got! But after finding THIS guy on Monday, I'd have to swear that I did indeed see him on Sunday even if he couldn't register in my sweet-assed little baby lens!
Beautiful image! I love how he stands out against all the brown. There's been one or two spotted in eastern Nebraska. I am hoping, hoping, hoping that they find their way out here. I saw one a few years ago, and, like you, did not have a big zoom. Would love to see one again.
Double love it!!