Great Horned Owl at Twilight

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I drove to Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge on Easter Sunday, hoping to photograph a short-eared owl I’ve seen there twice. I didn’t see it. But driving home I saw this Great Horned Owl sitting atop a tree, seemingly defying gravity. I pushed my camera to the limit to get a shot in the waning light. For camera people: I shot this handheld at 1/6 of a second, at 850 mm, F9 aperture, and at 4000 ISO. I was also shooting from the middle of the road. It is, objectively, not a great photograph; it’s grainy, blurry, and I’d do the composition differently if I could. But how beautiful is this bird?! 🦉

Location: Polk County, Oregon

Date: April 4, 2021

Exposure: 1/200 second, f/9, ISO 4000

Focal Length: 850 mml

Gear:

  • Camera: Nikon D750

  • Lens: Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary with a 1.4x teleconverter

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Coyote on Easter Sunday

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