articles/Wildlife/hawk-page4

Hawk Owls Encounters - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5

by Benny Rytter Published 01/06/2013

Nikon D4 500mm + 1.4 TC 1/2000s, f/6.3, ISO 400

I took one hour to get out there and approach the owl, taking photos for every 10 feet or so, until I surprisingly was only 10 feet away from the owl and could not focus anymore - I had reached the near focus distance of my 500mm lens.

I was all alone, no other human beings - only the owl and me, slow movements, shooting three frames, repositioning, shooting another three frames, recomposing, shooting another three frames - it went on this way for more than an hour - I was in wildlife heaven, I had some great hawk owl portraits.

Nikon D4 500mm + 1.4 TC 1/2000s, f/6.3, ISO 400

However, at one point I ran out of ideas so I decided to see if it was possible to get some action shots, or at least some shots where the owl flew away, of course without scaring it, that would be cheating. After 30 minutes or so - it felt like hours - the owl spotted prey in the grass; I readied myself, waiting for lift off - BAM! The bird was gone without me having taken one single frame. Luckily it missed the target and went back to the branch and continued the 'radar surveillance' for prey - now I knew a little more of the owl's behaviour and was able to predict the lift off; next time I got two very good frames - but the owl had missed the target again so I got yet another go at it.

• Hawk Owls Encounters page 1
  
• Hawk Owls Encounters page 2
  
• Hawk Owls Encounters page 3
  
• Hawk Owls Encounters page 4
  
• Hawk Owls Encounters page 5
  

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