James C.
Active member
What is the best technique, or time of day, to find and photograph owls?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Question regarding photographing owls
- Thread starter James C.
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I’ve photographed owls at all times of day including early morning and late evening twilight. The trick as always is finding them but a lot of owl photo opportunities are birds roosting up in trees which they’ll do all day long. Looking for signs like whitewash and owl pellets can help you identify favorite roosts. Listening for the racket of smaller birds mobbing owls is another good way to find them.
Photographing owls is much like other high perching wildlife, a long enough lens, a good vantage point to lower the shooting angle and get a good background and of course decent light which often means in the shade or an overcast day.
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Karl
Active member
Depends on the owl species... Barn Owls hunt in the dark so you have to find them roosting in the day... Great Gray Owls hunt 24 hrs./day, especially when they have young.
Snowy owls are very active in the day.
Look for crows...crows harassing an owl is called mobbing.
A tip I got from Christopher Balmer who National Geographic profiled as Mr. Owl a few years back. First never use flash on an owl. According to my ornithologist friends the impact can vary on the owl and power but it will always impact them more than it would you since their eyes are more sensitive to light. In the worst circumstance it can permanently damage and owls vision or not disrupt their ability to catch pray at least temporarily and in some harsh conditions missing a meal or two can be deadly.
The tip for many owls including day hunters if to go to a location where you have found a roosting or perching owl (someone mentioned looking for white wash and owl pellets) then be at that location before dawn on a cool morning and be in position to photograph the owl in the tree or other perch as the first warming rays of the sun hit that location. An owl that usually is perched way back in the cover will be out on a sunny perch to warm up before bed and give you the photo op with good light on the bird.
As noted Great Grays are a bit of a different critter ... one tip is look for them from 5 to 7 feet off the ground at eye level in many cases. Barred Owls will also frequently perch at lower levels but not as consistently.
One tip to knowing when you might find an owl was touched on earlier some owls hunt all day or into the early morning or start earlier in the late afternoon. Check the eye color of the owl you might want to photograph the more the owl hunts in the daylight the lighter the eye color. Unlike Mr. Owl and others I do not go out of my way looking for owls often, unless it is a species I have never photographed and usually one that is a rare visitor to Southern Idaho. So I rely on the expertise others have provided to me to find them. Here is an example of a day hunting owl notice the eyes. This was a rare visitor to Southern Idaho.
The tip for many owls including day hunters if to go to a location where you have found a roosting or perching owl (someone mentioned looking for white wash and owl pellets) then be at that location before dawn on a cool morning and be in position to photograph the owl in the tree or other perch as the first warming rays of the sun hit that location. An owl that usually is perched way back in the cover will be out on a sunny perch to warm up before bed and give you the photo op with good light on the bird.
As noted Great Grays are a bit of a different critter ... one tip is look for them from 5 to 7 feet off the ground at eye level in many cases. Barred Owls will also frequently perch at lower levels but not as consistently.
One tip to knowing when you might find an owl was touched on earlier some owls hunt all day or into the early morning or start earlier in the late afternoon. Check the eye color of the owl you might want to photograph the more the owl hunts in the daylight the lighter the eye color. Unlike Mr. Owl and others I do not go out of my way looking for owls often, unless it is a species I have never photographed and usually one that is a rare visitor to Southern Idaho. So I rely on the expertise others have provided to me to find them. Here is an example of a day hunting owl notice the eyes. This was a rare visitor to Southern Idaho.
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Karl
Active member
Ken, beautiful photo of the N. Hawk Owl... I've never seen one and it's near the top of my dream list. Also, good tips on finding owls and the use of flash. I'm in the southernmost part of Oregon and we have some Great Grays in the Cascades about 45 min. from where I live. I check for them fairly often but even knowing where to find them I still only see them about 10% of the time unless we know a nest location. In addition to what you said about looking low, another tip is to search the edges of meadows. Fortunately, if you do find one, they are pretty aloof as far as humans are concerned and will allow you to approach closer than you'd expect. Here are some of my owl photos and a bit about how I got some of them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136435824@N03/albums/72157718150877921/with/22182880609/
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Cool shot and set on Flickr ... I forgot I was a member and could sign in to comment ... I have been in some of our high mountain meadow areas where they are but have not gone looking for them there. We have had one visit here in Boise a few times and there are a couple that have been hanging out in a wildlife management are less than an hour away. I have been there once since they were reported there but was focused on finding and getting at least an ID photo of a Barn Owl so never looked for the Great Grays
Capturingtheunseen.com
Well-known member
Barred Owls (who cooks for you?) is one that is often found out during the day, especially when they have young to feed. I live in South Carolina and we see them sporadically until early spring when they hatch young. Then they hunt almost continuously to feed the young.
I like to look for Barn Owls in barns and Barred Owls in bars. If your gonna look for owls, you've gotta enjoy the search as much as the find; 'cause your gonna do a lot more searching than finding.
Karl
Active member
Here's an article on finding and photographing owls:
www.audubon.org
Follow These Expert Tips to Find and Photograph Owls
With the proper preparation and plenty of patience, you can dramatically increase your chances of success.
Mike M
New member
Sometimes they just find you. Early one morning in late April, I walked in on this little guy who apparently had spent some of the night in the birding blind on the ARM Loxahatchee Marsh Trail. Not a great shot, the light was tough and I was a nervous Owl Rookie (still am), but he didn't seen to mind as I fired away from about 15ft. This was the south facing window sill, and the right time, right place, dumb luck method worked for me.
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Here in Britain they say if you see an Owl out hunting during the day it’s not a good sign as it probably means he hasn’t caught enough food during the night time hours when he does most of his hunting, but I’d imagine that wouldn’t apply to the summer months when the days are longer.
I’ve been watching a Barn Owl close to where I live for the last few weeks & he does tend to be more active at sunset & appears about an hour before.
The weather here has been really bad the last week or so with snow, freezing temperatures, rain & heavy winds all of which they hate & I haven’t seen it for a little while so hope he’s ok as Barn Owls in Britain are protected due to their low numbers.
Some lovely images posted on this thread by the way.
I’ve been watching a Barn Owl close to where I live for the last few weeks & he does tend to be more active at sunset & appears about an hour before.
The weather here has been really bad the last week or so with snow, freezing temperatures, rain & heavy winds all of which they hate & I haven’t seen it for a little while so hope he’s ok as Barn Owls in Britain are protected due to their low numbers.
Some lovely images posted on this thread by the way.
Short-eared Owls can also often be seen hunting over marshy fields in winter, or perched on, e.g. fence posts. This winter seems to have been a good year for them in many parts of the world, from eBird data etc. I have posted a few in the Wildlife photography presentation forum here recently.
The most common owl we see here in Northern Kentucky / SWd Ohio is the barred owl. One thing I've learned is they are not as high up in the trees as one would suspect. Once I stopped looking way up high and started looking eye level to about 15-20 feet up I started seeing more of them.
Their camouflage is very effective. Unless they move they are exceedingly hard to spot. Look for something that just seems out of place. They like areas where branches have broken off of trees and sitting right up against the bark. The patterns of the sheared off branches of the larger knot holes I trees makes their camouflage even more effective.
I guess the 2 tips I would give would be:
1) look in every tree hole you see and every broken off branch of every tree you see in the forest. Don't forget to scan eye level and as you walk through the woods, look 50-75 yards out in front of you. They have great eyesight and hearing and know you are there long before you know they are there.
2) look eye level to about 20 feet or so up in the trees for barred owls. Tree holes for screech owls and Great Horned Owls -- well, they are where you find them. Going looking specifically for them is an exercise in frustration (at least for me).
edit to add bonus:
pine trees, sycamore trees and cottonwood trees are where I have seen most of the owls. Happy hunting. Hopefully you'll find some.
Hope this helps.
Jeff
Their camouflage is very effective. Unless they move they are exceedingly hard to spot. Look for something that just seems out of place. They like areas where branches have broken off of trees and sitting right up against the bark. The patterns of the sheared off branches of the larger knot holes I trees makes their camouflage even more effective.
I guess the 2 tips I would give would be:
1) look in every tree hole you see and every broken off branch of every tree you see in the forest. Don't forget to scan eye level and as you walk through the woods, look 50-75 yards out in front of you. They have great eyesight and hearing and know you are there long before you know they are there.
2) look eye level to about 20 feet or so up in the trees for barred owls. Tree holes for screech owls and Great Horned Owls -- well, they are where you find them. Going looking specifically for them is an exercise in frustration (at least for me).
edit to add bonus:
pine trees, sycamore trees and cottonwood trees are where I have seen most of the owls. Happy hunting. Hopefully you'll find some.
Hope this helps.
Jeff
James C.
Active member
Thanks!Here's an article on finding and photographing owls:
Follow These Expert Tips to Find and Photograph Owls
With the proper preparation and plenty of patience, you can dramatically increase your chances of success.