Before people start questioning the title of today’s blog, please let me clarify that the Great Gray Owl is the world’s longest owl with a recorded body length of up to 33″ (and a wing span of over 60″). You may want to think of this a deceptive length as it is the large head and fluffy feathers (better insulation) that are hiding a proportionally smaller body, such that many other owl species are heavier than the Great Gray. Anyway, the take away is that the Great Gray Owl is a very large and majestic looking bird, which I believe is captured in this first image which is also my favourite owl image from this past winter.
The Great Gray Owl is a northern owl that breeds in the far north regions of North America, Europe and Asia and although a nomadic bird, they do not migrate. As non-migratory birds, they are sometimes seen farther south than normal in years when food sources in the north are scarce and competition for food forces some birds to head south until they find more abundant food that they can successfully compete for. Their diet is 80% small rodents (voles and mice) and 20% from alternate prey sources including small birds and ducks.
This winter we were fortunate have a Great Gray Owl take up residence just north of Brooklin Ontario, not more than a ten minute drive from our house, which provided plenty of opportunities to photograph this celebrity visitor. And a celebrity it was, attracting birders and photographers from many miles away on a daily basis.
You probably noticed the image above was shot while it was snowing, which certainly adds to the photograph and serves as a reminder get out there when it’s snowing (or raining) as some of the best images are obtained in inclement weather. When it’s snowing you do need to take some time to think about how the snow will affect the image and how you wish the snow to appear in the image, just as you would for any of the elements that occupy the frame. Personally, I prefer the snow to be either frozen in the frame (pun intended :)) and appearing as round flakes, or heavily blurred to illustrate the wind and provide that winter storm look. An exposure time that allows just a little bit of movement in the flakes creates an unappealing optic with the snow appearing as a distractive cloud of gnats. The first image above was taken at 1/2000 sec, which preserved the round snow flakes. This next image was taken at 1/500 sec, allowing some motion in the snow flakes and creating that unpleasant fly look which you want to avoid.
A much slower exposure of 1/30 sec was used for the next image which fully blurs the snow, but in a way that contributes to the success of the image by giving the feeling of the wind driving the snow.
The challenge with slow shutter speeds is causing out of focus results either from camera shake or object movement during the exposure. So even using a lens with image stabilization, mounted on a tripod, I took at least a dozen shots to finally get one with the owl in sharp focus.
The next time you have the opportunity to take your camera out into the snow, don’t be afraid to do it, but always think about how the snow will impact your images and experiment with different shutter speeds until you create the desired effect. Also, when photographing birds, remember that slow shutter speeds are always the last thing you experiment with and don’t forget to set your exposures back to high shutter speeds as soon as you get the shot you want. Nothing is more frustrating than missing an owl launch from its perch while you have your camera dialled in at 1/30 sec! Fortunately I was back at 1/1600 sec for this next capture.
When shooting in less than ideal weather, the light is often quite nondescript producing the white/grey back grounds that typically are not visually appealing. However always try to use the light to your advantage. The over cast lighting reduces the natural contrast between the light & dark areas in the frame which is sometimes referred to as high key lighting (especially when there are no fully black shadows in the image). If you don’t like the high key look you can always add blacks and contrast during post processing which is what I did in these next few images.
Images like these with an all white back ground are perfect to use as title slides in any presentations you may be doing.
Bird photographers are usually upset when they cut off parts of the bird, but sometimes these accidents work out well. This next image is almost completely un-cropped in post processing (about 15% of the right side of the image was cropped). It just so happened that the owl landed on a perch very close to me and the 400mm lens was ‘too much lens’ so the owl more than filled the frame. The image does capture the concentration, intensity and focus of the owl securing the landing position on the perch it had chosen. Although accidental, the resulting image became a ‘keeper’.
This next image is a crop of a missed launch image taken as the owl took off from its perch and I cut off the head of the bird. The intent then became to crop the image to isolate the legs and tail and convey the great power required for the owl to propel itself into the air. I don’t believe this image works as well as the previous one to convey the message, but the point is, don’t always delete your ‘mistakes’ before looking at them closely to see if perhaps there is a picture within the picture that can be used for an intent other than originally planned. They don’t always work (as shown in these two images) but when they do, it is a pleasant surprise.
The last sequence of images in today’s post illustrates one of the typical hunting methods of the Great Gray Owl.
Great Gray Owls use sound and hearing as the primary sense required to effectively hunt for food and although they do have incredible visual acuity, they are most active feeding before dawn and after dusk when hearing is more important than sight. Their large facial disks act as parabolic reflectors amplifying and concentrating sounds on their asymmetrically located ears allowing them to accurately locate prey, up to two feet below the surface of the snow. This is truly amazing when you stop to think about it.
Listening intently to locate the prey.
Hopeful success.
The images posted in today’s blog were taken with two different gear combinations, a Canon 5D MkIII with a 500mm lens and a Canon 1D MkIII with a 400mm lens.
It is always a pleasure to spend time out taking pictures, however it’s even more special when you get to do so with great friends and on the day we took these pictures Deb & I were joined by Arni & Dianne who made the trek south from Orillia to see the Great Gray Owl. You can see Arni’s shots of the Great Gray Owl posted on his blog.
I trust you enjoyed seeing these Great Gray Owl images and as always, your questions, comments and critiques are much appreciated.
This winter has been unusually long and cold with our province blanketed in snow to depths that I can’t recall since growing up in the Ottawa Valley. Fortunately it has also been a pretty good winter for bird photography, especially regarding Snowy Owls for which this year has been an irruption year. An irruption year occurs infrequently and although there are different theories as to exactly what causes a particular species of bird to head farther south in greater numbers than usual, it most likely revolves around competition for food. In winters when food supplies are scarce or years that bird populations are large, the competition for food forces the disadvantaged (the young, very old or infirm) south in search of more easily obtained food. This is why Snowy Owls found significantly south of their normal range are usually young first year birds. After wintering farther south than normal and eating well, the owls head back to the Arctic in February or March for the next nesting season. The Snowy Owl irruption experienced this year has been the largest in 40-50 years and a Snowy Owl actually made it to Jacksonville Florida, which is incredible for a non migratory Arctic bird! When Snowy Owls are displaced southward they seek areas to stay that remind them of the tundra they are accustomed to, so you often find them in open areas such as farmers fields.
Their predilection for farmer’s fields results in the classic images we see of Snowy Owls perched on fence posts.
Although not the biggest or heaviest owl, the Snowy is still an impressive bird about 2.5′ high with a wingspan of five feet and weighing up to six pounds. Only in flight can you get an appreciation for their wingspan.
Deb and I were photographing a Snowy Owl last month when a snow squall moved through the area and presented us with the opportunity to get a unique image that I hope illustrates the type of environment the Snowy Owl is used to in the high Arctic.
The winter months in Ontario are also a great time to see a number of northern diving ducks which winter on the Great Lakes. In fact the introduction of Zebra Mussels in 1988 to Lake St. Claire and Lake Erie from a European freighter and their subsequent infestation of the Great Lakes (particularly Erie & Ontario) has provided a dubious but plentiful food source for the ducks. Consequently in recent years we have seen more varieties of ducks as they change their historic migration patterns to include the Great Lakes and the Zebra Mussel buffet they provide.
On a recent tour of Southern Ontario looking for winter owls and ducks with my good friend Arni, we were able see a number of different duck species as well as four different owls species. Arni is a birder and photographer second to none and you will enjoy following this link to his website. These next images of ducks were taken on our tour and although it was a dreary day the poor light did not stop Arni and me from enjoying both the birding and the photography as well.
First up is the Red Breasted Merganser, the rarest of the three Mergansers in North America, and a new bird for me to photograph. If you want to see the other two Merganser species (Common Merganser and Hooded Merganser), they can be found in the Waterfowl Gallery.
Baby it cold outside!
.
This next image is of Red-headed ducks, another relatively new and unusual visitor to the Great Lakes to feast on the Zebra Mussel. The Red-headed duck is an interesting species as it never builds its own nest, choosing instead to lay its eggs in the nests of other duck species and even in the nests of American Bitterns and Northern Harriers. Apparently they aren’t into parenting!
The White-winged Scoter is another Arctic breeding duck that is found through North America, Europe and Asia. It heads south in the winter months and their numbers have been increasing on the Great Lakes over the past few years. They are a large dark brown to black bird with distinctive white markings around the eyes and speculum. The next two pictures are of the White-winged Scoter, the male first followed by the female and both with a clump of Zebra Mussels.
.
Since the inadvertent introduction of Zebra Mussels to the Great Lakes, they have overtaken Lake St. Claire, Erie and Ontario, largely due to their prolific reproduction with relatively few predators eating into their numbers. A Zebra Mussel has a life span of approximately five years and females begin having young at about six weeks of age, producing one million offspring annually. The crayfish, one of the mussel’s main predators, consumes about 40,000 per year. The Zebra Mussel filters approximately one gallon of water every day, removing nutrients for itself. Unfortunately the toxins in the water, of which there are many, accumulate in the mussel and there in lies the problem for the birds who consume the muscles and with them the toxins and contaminants from the lakes, and in a concentrated form. The health effects on the birds is not yet known, however it is a huge concern to conservationists and researchers who are investigating the effects of the muscles on birds. It is already suspected that avian botulism is transferred via the Zebra Mussel and this kills many birds annually.
Shifting gears back to owls, the first of four owl species Arni and I saw was the Eastern Screech Owl, which was a new species for me to photograph. The Eastern Screech Owl is a strictly nocturnal bird that hunts at night and then finds its roost in a tree cavity where it spends the daylight hours sleeping. They are a small bird about 10″ high with a wingspan of 18-24″. Most Eastern Screech Owls are grey in colour, however about 10% of these owls are a rufus or red morph and it was a pleasure for us to have found this rarer colour of the Eastern Screech Owl.
After leaving the Screech Owl we were able to find a Snowy Owl however he was too far away to get any blog worthy images of so we left and arrived at another location where we found a Short-eared Owl hunting over a large area around a quarry. Although we set up out tripods and gear, the Short-eared Owl didn’t fly close by, so as with the Snowy Owl, we struck out getting any shots. The disappointment was short-lived as after arriving at a conservation area on the shores of Lake Ontario we found a large coniferous tree that was home for the day to six Long-eared Owls. It was the largest number of owls I’d ever seen in the same tree.
The Long-eared Owl is a slender owl with long ears, large bright yellow eyes and huge eye discs that give it a characteristic look that is hard to miss.
It was also a pleasant surprise to catch one in flight.
Many photographers put their camera gear away for the winter, but as long as you dress for the occasion and make sure your batteries are fully charged, cold weather photography is a lot of fun and often affords the pleasure of seeing birds that you simply can not see in Ontario at any other time of the year.
We’ve been privileged this winter to also have photographed two other species of owl, the Great Gray Owl which the world’s largest owl and the Short-eared Owl which is arguably the prettiest of the owls. They will form the subject matter for the next two blog posts before retuning to our European tour.
The Mandarin Duck is a local rarity and a bird I had never seen before in the wild so when a single drake showed up in Whitby it created quite a flurry of interest.
The Mandarin Duck is an East Asian perching duck found primarily in Russia, China and Japan. It is a medium sized duck and is closely related to the North American Wood Duck and is similar in that they both nest in empty tree cavities, sometimes as high as thirty feet above the ground. After the chicks are born the mother pushes them out of the tree and then leads them off to the nearest body of water. Mandarin Ducks are among the most beautiful and colourful ducks as the following pictures shows.
When shooting birds on the ground it is important to get the camera at their level in order to achieve the best results. The above shot was taken while lying down on the ground resting the 70-200mm lens on the palm of my hand. The next image was taken from a sitting/kneeling position to show the colour ranges and feathers detail on the dorsal aspect of the bird. Although the shot accomplishes the purpose you can clearly see the better perspective of the first image. So next time you are photographing anything on the ground, don’t forget to lie down and get the job done right!
Although there are a few feral colonies of Mandarin Ducks in North America, they were probably created by the escape of bids from captive collections (i.e., zoos). It is unlikely they are a result of misplaced migration from East Asia. In all probability the Mandarin drake that arrived in Whitby is an escaped captive bird.
The only open water for this duck is a pool created by the fast flowing water from a couple of late drainage pipes that is only about thirty feet in diameter. This little Mandarin Duck shares the small pool with about a hundred Mallard ducks and a few Canada Geese so it was very difficult to get any images of the Mandarin alone in the water. The following three are the best I could do.
Frolicking
Water off a duck’s back!
When photographing wildlife it is always best to take lots of exposures when the target is in your viewfinder as the spontaneous nature of wild animals often presents some interesting even humorous actions. This is completely different from landscape photography where the subject doesn’t move and you can invest as much time as necessary to plan, compose and execute the ‘perfect’ single image and then move on to the next shot.
Spontaneous ‘snapshots’ don’t have to be perfectly composed with tack sharp focus (although it helps) as long as the story the image tells or the smile that it creates is the overarching result of the photograph. Here are a couple of such snapshots obtained while photographing the Mandarin Duck this week. Although not typical images for posting on photography blog designed to showcase great photography, I do trust you enjoy them and they give you a smile.
Stepping out with the big boys! (this does provide a good perspective for appreciating the size of the Mandarin Duck).
Where angels fear to tread.
The first two images in this post were taken handheld with the 1D Mk III and 70-200mm/2.8, while the three shots of the duck on the water were using the 5D Mk III and 500mm/4, again handheld. Although these body/lens combinations may seem odd, some thought went into them. The 1D body has a crop factor of 1.3 meaning that a 100mm lens functions like a 100 x 1.3 = 130mm lens when attached to the crop body. So a crop body lengthens the effective reach of the lens compared to the same lens placed on a full frame camera like the 5D. Knowing that it was possible to get relatively close to the ducks, putting the crop body on the smaller lens and the full frame body on the longer lens created the optimal effective focal ranges for getting the best pics of the Mandarin Duck.
Earlier this year it was my privilege to spend three days in Algonquin Provincial Park, photographing moose. It was a fabulous few days as we saw approximately twenty different moose and were able to capture them in great light and from a terrific low vantage point as we were shooting from a boat. Our captain and moose guide extraordinaire was Michael Bertelsen who owns and operates Algonquin Park Photography Tours & Workshops. Michael has been doing tours into Algonquin from his home base in Huntsville for over a dozen years and knows the park like the back of his hand. His vast knowledge of photography, Algonquin Park and its wild inhabitants was invaluable to the success of our trip. Plus Michael is a great guy who is fun to spend time with. Please take time to check out the link above to his website and see the variety of tours he has to offer and then book one; you wont be disappointed! Joining the tour were my great friends Eleanor and Arni as well as my new friend Joyce who accompanied Eleanor. We all had a wonderful time together and I trust we will be able to get together to do the same thing again. You can see Eleanor’s work at EleanorKeeWellman’s Photos and Arni’s at ArniWorks Photography.
Getting to the ideal moose location involved an 18 mile boat ride that began before sunrise, however the best light of the day is just after sunrise so the effort is always worth it. The boat trip was all part of the enjoyment and the wide open vistas in Algonquin Park made for a perfect way to start the day as can be seen in this GoPro video.
The benefit of arriving on location at sunrise was the topic of an earlier blog post which includes some moose images taken during this trip but here is the view that welcomed us.
One of the benefits of photographing moose in June is that the cows have just recently given birth to their calves and its a pleasure to see these young moose starting to get used to the world around them. They stay close to their moms and quickly learn their way around whether on land or in the water.
Some tender moments.
.
.
Follow the leader, wherever she leads!
.
A younger cow enjoying the lily pads.
.
.
The Black Flies and Mosquitos were incredibly bad and we wore bug nets almost all the time. The moose were not immune from the flies relentless onslaught. Take a close look around this cow’s head and neck.
I only have eyes for you!
Unfortunately the feelings were not reciprocated 🙂
Although not the prettiest, the Bull Moose is an enormous animal and the most desired to photograph, especially with that classic full rack of antlers on proud display. The bulls lose their racks every fall and thus grow new ones every year. In June (when these images were taken) the annual growth process is still in the early stages so the antlers are small and felt covered. By October they will be massive, however even in June they were impressive.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The day before our trip to Algonquin Park, my great friend Arni took possession of an incredible new lens just released by Canon. The EF 600 f4 L IS II which is optically leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors, the Version I Canon supertelephotos. To prove this point Arni had attached his latest version of the 2x teleconverter to the lens, in essence converting the lens to a 1200mm f8 lens! He then graciously allowed me to use his new lens. Now, all of the photographers reading this post will know that using a 1200mm lens, hand-held and while sitting in a boat is ridiculous, as it’s just not possible to take acceptable images with this set up, however Canon’s new lens technology is changing all that. Let me know what you think of these!
.
.
.
.
A huge thank you Arni for trusting me with your new lens!
Often times when on a specific type of photography expedition we instinctively apply all of our concentration shooting the intended subject and forgetting to look around and enjoy the whole experience. In this case although the tight shots are exactly what we wanted, it is also important to see the moose in its environment.
.
Over the past few months I have started experimenting with video, taking advantage of the video capabilities of the Canon 5D MkIII and the fun to use GoPro video camera. The intent is to capture video of the objects we are photographing after enough still ‘keepers’ are obtained! I hope you enjoy the following two-minute video clip of some of the moose we saw on this trip, all taken with the 5D and edited using Adobe Premiere Pro (part of the CS6 Creative Suite). I have subsequently learned that the video settings I used were not the greatest and it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to shoot video from a boat without way too much movement of the camera! All that said, video capture is a lot of fun and I’d recommend you give it a go if your DSLR has video capability.
Another thanks to Eleanor, Joyce, Arni and Michael for the great three days we spent in Algonquin Park. It was a blast!
Time seems to be conspiring to pass more quickly this time of year and as a result it has been far too long since the last blog post. In order to get something posted, this will be a short blog however the hope is that it will whet your appetite for more Moose & Loons in the upcoming weeks.
Last month I had the privilege of joining my good friends Arni, Eleanor and Joyce in Algonquin Park for three days of photography, during two of which we participated in a Moose Photography Workshop with Michael Bertelsen who owns and operates Algonquin Park Photography Tours & Workshops. I had met Michael a couple of years ago at Hall’s Road in Ajax, Ontario where we were photographing birds and it was a pleasure to catch up with him again. Michael has been conducting tours in Algonquin Park for some fifteen years now and his familiarity with the park and expertise and knowledge of Moose was indispensable, not to mention his customized ‘photography boat’ which featured four swivel chairs and lots of room to shoot from any direction while on the boat. We left the dock at 5:00 a.m. and headed for an 18km ride to where the Moose could be found…..and Moose we found; about twenty of them over the two days!
The purpose of this blog is not to show all the best Moose images (that will come) but rather just a couple that were taken very near sunrise. The importance of being ‘on location’ before the sun rises can not be over estimated. There are a scant few moments while the sun peeks above the horizon that provide photographic opportunities like none other. It is also a time you can shoot into the sun and achieve interesting effects with back and rim lighting.
This first image is a good example of the rim lighting effect possible when shooting into the early morning sun.
Although compositionally you may wish the Moose was on the other side of the frame so she was looking into the frame rather than out of it; the mist coming off the water, the rim lighting around the head and through the water drops makes for a good image. From a technical perspective, it is important to underexpose the exposure suggested by your camera’s light meter when shooting into the sun. If you don’t, the camera will expose for the predominantly dark scene resulting in over exposure of the light areas which would destroy the rim effect and blow out the detail in the lighter parts of the scene (in this case the water drops and the mist). If memory serves me well, this shot was taken at two stops less than what the meter was suggesting.
The next image is what we often refer to as an environmental shot, meaning that although the Moose is the object within the image, it shows the Moose in its natural environment which is always important, and nice, to see. Unfortunately, my tendency is to dwell so much on the object of the photo shoot that I completely forget about the environment and consequently come home with many gigs of images that all look the same, with the object filling the full frame. Often environmental images make for the highest visual impact and therefore become the best images from an outing.
As the sun moves higher into the sky through the morning hours, the light becomes more intense and harsh, which is why most photographers do not go out after mid-morning or before mid-afternoon. Shooting into the sun becomes much more difficult to do effectively as the light intensity fluctuation between the lights and the shadows becomes extreme. This past Friday morning my wife and I were canoeing in Algonquin Park and photographing Common Loons. While were just finishing up for the morning with a pair of Loons, Deb heard the unmistakable sound of a Loon taking off. Fortunately it was heading in our direction but unfortunately we were looking almost directly into the sun. I quickly grabbed my other camera body with a longer lens and was able to get a couple of unexpected frames as the Loon completed its long take off and flew right beside us on its way to a better fishing location.
You can see how much harsher the light becomes later in the morning, in this case around 8:00 a.m. For this sequence, I exposed three or more stops less than what the meter was suggesting. It was a treat to be so close to an in flight Loon as it passed by our canoe. This next image is a little off level, however if it was leveled some of the reflection of the Loon would be lost and I felt it was more important to include as much of the reflection as possible at the expense of a level horizon!
The interesting thing about all four images posted today is that were all taken from the water, which means a little more planning is required to make it all happen, but the results are well worth the effort.
For many years now, every time Deb & I head into Algonquin Park for a day trip, we have been on the look out for the uncommon and equally elusive Black-backed Woodpecker. We had struck out every time until this past Victoria Day Weekend when Ellesse & Jeff and Deb & I were fortunate enough to see a pair while on our annual Spring trip to the park to see moose. Unfortunately I was unable to get any pictures of the woodpeckers, so Deb & I returned two days later just after sunrise and were blessed once again to find the Black-backed Woodpeckers and this time their nest as well. It was a real treat to watch them for a few hours and observe their unique behaviour as they tended to the nest and the eggs they were taking turns incubating.
.
The above two ‘peekaboo’ shots are of the male, who is identified by the yellow/orange crown, while the female crown is black. The above two pictures, although compositionally similar, are taken from opposite sides of the tree resulting in differing back grounds and completely different lighting (front lighting in the first and back lighting in the second). Over all my preference is for the second shot, but by way of practice, when given the opportunity always photograph the subject from as many different angles and lighting configurations as possible. You will often be surprised by the results, even when breaking the unwritten rules of photography!
Black-backed Woodpeckers are a medium-sized woodpecker averaging about ten inches long with a wing span of seventeen inches. As their name suggests they have entirely black backs with a white chest and barred flanks. Their beaks are relatively long and they have a prominent white cheek mark. Another interesting fact regarding this bird is that they have only three toes.
The following images are of the female Black-backed Woodpecker.
.
.
.
.
Black-backed Woodpeckers carve out a new nest every year in April or May, generally in a dead tree or a burnt tree. Although they typically live in the coniferous trees of boreal forests, they are known for preferring areas recently damaged by forest fires. The nests are generally located fairly low to the ground. The female lays three or four eggs which are incubated by both parents for 12-14 days. Interestingly the male alone incubates the eggs during the night. Once born, both adults feed the chicks which fledge after about twenty-four days.
As already mentioned, Black-backed Woodpeckers only have three toes and it was harder than expected to get a good shot demonstrating that. This next shot shows the bird sticking his foot out seemingly just to show off his three toes for the camera!
The images in this post were taken using both 1D Mk III and 5D Mk III bodies and 400/5.6 and 500/4 lenses in various lens body combinations. It was a very dark gloomy day, with the exception of about twenty minutes of sunlight over the time we were at the nest site. This resulted in higher ISO’s than usual, with some of the images in this series taken at ISO 4000. Fortunately the newer cameras function extremely well at ISO’s that were unusable with the technology available just a few years ago.
As mentioned above, we found the Black-backed Woodpeckers while in the park looking for moose. Here is one of them taken with the 5D and 70-200/2.8.
Follow Scott Martin Photography