This juvenile Burrowing Owl seems unphased by his sibling jumping on her back. Got several shots of the encounter with him reaching around and looking like he was trying to kiss her and then they fell over.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld out my car window
Aperture priority, 1/500 sec @ F5.6, ISO 6400, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 700mm
Here are more photos of Burrowing Owls trying to intimidate prairie dogs that got too close. They do a great job of expanding their body size with their feathers, which makes for some cool photo op’s. Hoping to get the opportunity to see them again.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld out my car window
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 700mm
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 700mm
This would have been a good post for Halloween with the fully dilated eyes of this Burrowing Owl. He got all puffed up and stared down this prairie dog that got a little too close.
Saw this behavior a few times this summer but this was the only one with the owl looking in my direction.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld out the car window
The roadrunners were the highlight of my last trip to Santa Clara Ranch in south Texas in June. On the last day, they were very cooperative and came to the pond to drink. Up close, they are very beautiful birds.
On the last photo, you can see the reflection of the pond in the water drop. They scoup up the water in their bill and tilt their head back to drink.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head in a photo blind
Aperture priority, 1/2000 sec @ F9, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/2500 sec @ F9, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, 500mm
One of my favorite birds from my last trip to Santa Clara Ranch was the Bronzed Cowbird. They have a bronzed iridescence and their eyes turn red during breeding season. When trying to impress a potential mate, the male will vibrate his wings and hover in the air a few feet off of the ground. Got lucky on the last day and caught that behavior with the last two photos.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II on Wimberley II gimbal head mounted on a tripod
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Had to look up the spelling on this bird. Related to the Northern Cardinal, the Pyrrhuloxia thrives in the desert southwest. They were very skittish and didn’t stick around long so I was very pleased to get these shots, especially the wingspan shot of the female.
Took these photos at Santa Clara Ranch in SW Texas in June.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on a tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head from a photography blind
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F5.0, ISO 1600, spot metering
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F6.3, ISO 1600, spot metering
Aperture priority, 1/3200 sec @ F6.3, ISO 3200, evaluative metering
This juvenile Burrowing Owl was hanging out near the fence line where I was taking photos. Moved my car up close to him and shot away for about 10 min as he was trying to stay awake.
He finally moved for the second photo but there was a blurred out barbed wire fence right above him so I cropped it tighter.
Had to use negative exposure compensation to keep from blowing out the whites on his chest.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 II II with 1.4X III teleconverter, handheld out the car window
Aperture priority, 1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, -2/3 exposure compensation
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F9, ISO 800, evaluative metering, -2/3 exposure compensation
