Several years ago, while living in Sudbury a barred owl decided to feast on the mice in my compost bin. My family and I ran out to capture him on film. His fear of us was greater than his hunger for the mice. Did I miss the photo opportunity? Alas he did not fly far. It was day time and they are nocturnal birds so he perched in a burr oak tree in our back yard for a nap. His stripped feathers blended in quite well with the tree. Quietly I walked out as to not wake him and shot away with my camera. I did get a few great shots of him but his eyes were closed. Oh, so I desired for his eyes to be opened. I even thought I could photo-shop opened eyes, but it just didn't seam right and I felt I wouldn't have done the real eyes justice.
After we moved to Bracebridge Ontario I would listen to the hoot of owls during the night. I later found out we have several barred owls in our area. What would be the chance of seeing one with his eyes opened?
Lately I had taken a fancy to owls and have painted some whimsical ones on pottery. A few weeks ago while sipping on a glass of water and looking out the kitchen window I wondered where my frisky squirrels had gone. Then I saw it. At first I thought it was my imagination due to painting so many. No it was real. Sitting on the pine bow searching for the my scarce squirrels was a barred owl. The sun was on it as its eyes scanned the ground like radar. I quickly grabbed my camera and shot away. I managed to get several shots of him before he flew off into the forest, hungry. The squirrels reappeared after he left.
Prints of my owl and more of my photos and pottery my be purchased on my website at butlerpottery.etsy.com
3 comments:
How blessed you are to be able to take these pictures!
♥♥♥
Sue
Owls are the most majestic creatures, and you are so lucky to be able to observe them close up!!!
Here we have the great horned owls, and I love hearing them at night. Although we see them occasionally, we have never gotten a photo.
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