butch_barker

Great Horned Owls have extremely acute hearing which they use to

locate prey. They fly silently and swiftly, up to 40 miles per hour,

and swoop down to snatch up their prey with powerful feet and

talons. Very rarely will you see them this low

I usually only like to photograph in the wild,but there are no wild

Pandas in America so I visited the Atlanta Zoo. These were difficult

conditions throuh glass

He sees me all right without turning his body, that amazes me about

owls They can almost turn their necks all the way around

I affectionately named him Lestor, he would just swim along beside

me just waiting for a handout. He'd been spoiled by Park visitors

Reflection of a Sanderling taken near Jacksonville FL lying in the

sand

Captuered this one in BEAKS wildlife santuary near Jacksonville, FL.

These folks provide free care to injured birds and have many

specimens availabe. The injured birds also attract wild ones like

this one. You really should visit them and while you're there leave

a nice donation for the great photos you'll get

I was lucky enough to spend some time undetected by this little guy,

at this point I know he heard me he just hasn't found me yet. The

background is out of focus green swamp water. This location and

perch has been kind to me. I lked the intense stare and twisted neck

feathers in this one

I'm not a professional but I will give you a couple of secrets that I've learned chasing birds witha a camera. First use the best lens that you can afford, no matter what they say, it makes a difference.

Use a good tripod, and watch your shutter speeds, just about any speed slower than 1/250 sec results in an unsharp photo for me when chasing these little guys. Last spend time with the birds to let the become accustomed to you or hide yourself well, they won't be so hyper then

Let me know if I can help more

Caught this scene at The Alligator Farm at St Augustine, Late

afternoon sun.