Hello! It’s been a while! The last few months I’ve been pretty busy with finishing up my master’s degree (and graduating!), but I’m looking forward to sending out more photos on here again.
This is one I took last week of a beautiful tawny owl. As I walked back up to my house one late afternoon, a large brown bird erupted from the undergrowth and glided along the path in front of me. I assumed it was a buzzard at first, but something about the way it manoeuvred so gracefully between the trees seemed a little uncharacteristic. It disappeared into the foliage ahead, slowing down and tilting its wings as if to land. Although I couldn’t see exactly where it had gone, I thought it was probably worth investigating with my camera. As I crept along the wooded path, a dark shape and tell-tale brown feathers began to emerge. When I shifted my position to get a clearer view, I was shocked to find myself staring into the deep, dark eyes of an owl.
What makes this photo particularly satisfying for me is that the owl is sitting in one of the trees that my family and I planted a little over eight years ago. Back then the tree would only have come up to the top of my knee – now it holds owls!
Technical details: Canon 7D MKII + 100-400mm lens at 400mm; 1/500 sec at f/5.6; ISO 1000.