Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

On Monday a holiday in the States myself and two girlfriends set out for the country to do some bird photography. This young Long-eared Owl was high in a conifer tree along with many other owls. My friend Theresa said she stopped counting after 18!
There looked like there might be another breed of owls in there too, but I couldn’t get a good look at any of them.

Exposing for this guy was a bit tricky. He was tucked into the tree behind these pine needles with occasional sun filtering through to highlight him. I took a lot of photographs of him hoping I hit the light just right. After 30 minutes I decided to move on. The best light was going to be in early afternoon. If I was still there I’d try it then. I wasn’t.

My book of North American Birds by National Geographic says this is an Uncommonly seen breed. Making this another fantastic find for me and my girlfriends!

I think Theresa, Rainey and I are probably Uncommon girlfriends too. How many do you know that get together for a day of birding rather than shopping? “)

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mmVR @ 300mm| f8| 1/50 second| ISO 800| Manual Mode| Tripod