Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II, 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO: 320

Kinda tough getting a shot of this guy (gal?) through the tree, but I think this one worked out OK.  This was my second crack at this guy.  He was in a tree in the union of the two main driving loops at San Luis.  The light was better in this later set of shots I took after driving the waterfowl route and before before splitting off on the elk route.  This was the only usable photo from that second set.  Better light, but either the picture was blurry or the branches were blocking too much of the face in the other photos.

Owl in a Nest

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T4i, EF-S 55-250mm IS II, 1/1600s, f/5.6, ISO: 640

Can a person ever tire of seeing owls?  I suspect not.

I did a bit of research, and it turns out that great horned owls usually lay their eggs in January and the eggs hatch about a month later.  So, if this mother's eggs haven't hatched yet they will be soon.  The old man is probably off hunting for food for her.

Fly by Night

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm IS II, 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO: 400

Another picture of the owls from last weekend, this time both of them.  This picture gives something of an indication of how much stuff I had to shoot through to get to the owls.  So many branches.

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm IS II, 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO: 400

This owl looks like a real bad ass, doesn't it?

Pongo and I went to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday.  We went for a walk around the Bittern Trail, which is a short little loop around what I imagine is more of a marsh during normal years.  I think my jaw dropped a little when I saw not one but two large silhouettes in a tree.  I'd read that this trail sometimes has owls on it, but I read that about a lot of places and it has never panned out for me.  Luckily the trail wound around to the other side of the tree where I had  good light for pictures and the birds were content to just watch as I struggled to find a clearing through the dense, leafless branches.  A truly clear vantage point wasn't possible without a pair of wings of my own, but I found a spot that wasn't too bad.

I dunno, pretty cool bird if you ask me.