Great Horned Owl with 3 Chicks in a Saguaro

I found these chicks with mom in the Arizona desert around Phoenix.

All 3 fledged about a month later.

Thanks for critiques. I always respect any feedback you provide and

try to learn from it. Will reciprocate. Have fun shooting.

A very good image, Dave.  I have also been shooting GHO and chicks in Texas. In fact, I would go check on them daily until they fledged. 

Thanks for your visit Dave!

Best

PDE

Wonderful image, great light and superbly captured. I usually try to avoid performing a crop on other peoples images but I saw another possibility in a square crop. The left side is slightly out of focus and fairly well lit thus attracting my eyes there. By cropping it into a square, I eliminate that side but leave enough of the dark area so it acts as a natural border. It then places the fledglings and their mother in a less central position.

I am relating "the why" but in the end, this is your image and what you think is more important than any suggestions I could make.

All the very best,

Tony, your ideas really do improve this shot. Thank you for taking the time to reprocess it. Any time you want to share an idea with me is great. I really appreciate your insights!

Great catch. TFS!

Very nice family group, I agree with the Tony advice, ( Thanks for the comments to my photo, view the answer) , ciao Giangiorgio

You are welcome!

Great shot Dave!  They look sleepy...

I like the image very much, and I agree Tonys crop really does add to the composition. The thing that fascinates me is the spikey home they reside in, probably a great place to keep predators away, but it begs the question, how did you get access to it?

Sincere Compliments!

Alf

Thanks  Rejith, Dominick and Alf. To answer your questions ...

This shot was taken early morning when these birds are usually settling down for a good days sleep. The mom took over this hawk's nest and plucked out all the thorns of this saguaro before laying eggs. The saguaro is near a desert trail on a hill side. I was able to go up the hill to get eye level and used my 500mm lens on a tripod. I followed the chick progress for a month and got many more good shots. This is the only good one of the entire family.

Dave,

Last year I was fortunate enough to see (and shoot) 2 chicks, but the mother never came in the 2 hours we were there.  This must have been a thrill to observe!  It's a great shot of the entire family.  I find it fascinating that the mother would pick out all of the thorns on the saguaro.  Amazing!  I also like Tony's idea for the crop, but I'm presenting yet another idea.  I find the bright saguaro tends to take my eye away from the chicks, so I simply tried cropping more from the right than the left.  Any way you decide to do it, you have a great image here.  :-)

Crystal, one of things I like so much about PN is all the ideas people contribute. I think you are correct about the brightness of the cactus being distracting and the crop is one way to solve it. I am thinking about how I want to reprocess this shot but will wait to see what other thoughts are offered. Thanks for your feedback.

All the ideas seemed to help, and of course it is the Owl and the babes that are the Main Focus!!  Excellent capture. Clever to build the nest in Cacti. The babes look like little old men, I've noticed that about other babe birds. Nice capture!

Gail, this mama stole the nest from a hawk. She did pluck out all the thorns herself though. Thanks for your comment.