Snowmageddon Owl

Year 11

Snowmageddon, although delayed did arrive here at the Head of the Lakes. It started snowing heavily a bit over 24 hours ago (noonish on Sunday). Incubating eggs for Momma Great Horned Owl was not much fun as the snow piled up around her, and on top of her. We’ve now had 12 inches of the white stuff down here within 1/2 mile of Lake Superior, and we have about another 24 hours yet to go for this storm, but at much lower snowfall rates.

My first photo hike into the snowstorm was at 4 pm yesterday afternoon. At this point about 5 inches of snow had fallen. Here is Amy, Momma Great Horned Owl in both a still images and video taken at that time. The snowfall rate seen in the video was 6/10 of an inch per hour (US Weather Service data).

Snowmaggen … The Movie! (link for email subscribers)

Now on to Snowmageddon Day #2 … and follow-up images from this morning 25 minutes after sunrise (cloudrise??):

And yet another image taken around 1 pm this afternoon … 25 hours after the storm’s start.

There was one other change in “owl status” today. Poppa Owl’s perch at the top of a white pine is obviously too exposed to the NE winds off Lake Superior. He is hiding today somewhere much lower. Surprisingly he did hoot for 10-15 minutes last night around 8 pm. I thought given the poor weather he would just hunker down and stay quiet.

Transition Birding

Year 11,

Snowmageddon is supposed to hit the Northland in a few hours. By early this afternoon it is supposed to be snowing at a rate of 1/2 inch of white stuff per hour as the winds clock in off Lake Superior over 40 mph. Right now it is Sunday morning and some gentle white fluff is falling through the air, and the winds are somewhat calm. Even my owls are still hooting a bit after sunrise. However, the storm is supposed to continue for over 48 hours.

This preamble leads me to today’s topic, Transition Birding. Over the past few days I have visiting some of my favorite winter haunts … both in Sax-Zim Bog and north towards the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area. At times the forest is devoid of a single bird, and then I come across unexpected pleasures … with bird species that are still hanging down in the area like the Northern Hawk Owl (mid Manitoba bound) to Greater White-Fronted Geese which are early migration arrivals as they push to arrive on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and their breeding grounds. Thus, I never know what I am going to see … and sometimes I see nothing. However, while out birding yesterday morning north of Two Harbors I noted that even though I was on paved roads for much of the time, in 60 miles of driving I only saw four cars. The end result is I enjoy peace and solitude out in nature.

Transition Birding – Passing Through

Greater White-Fronter Geese

Transition Birding – Early Arrivals on their Breeding Grounds

American Kestrel

Transition Birding – Winter Visitors Leaving Soon for Points North

Northern Hawk Owl

Common Redpolls

Just Plain Local – Year Round Friends

Wild Turkey

Moonlight Owl!

Year 11,

I accepted the challenge last night, and photographed Amy, Momma Great Horned Owl, in the moonlight. I DID NOT use any artificial light or flash … only the light of the almost full moon (96% of full). Here is the end result, and then I will explain the process.

Here are the details of how I accomplished this photograph. I took the image at 10:15 pm, which was approximately 3 hours after sunset. My camera was my Sony A6300 with a 70-350 mm lens … extended to its full reach. The aperture was 6.5 and exposure time was 30 seconds with an ISO setting of 2,000 … thankfully owls often sit motionless for long periods of time because 30 seconds is a long exposure.

Using my weather app I had previously determined the moon last night would be at 96% of full and elevated 47 degrees above the horizon. I knew I wanted a moon a few days before the full moon as the light is almost identical, and the moon rises much earlier in the afternoon than the night of the full moon. Given the location and geometry of the nest, I also knew I needed a moon rather high in the sky in order for moonlight to filter down from above into the nest. Surrounding white pines would block direct moonlight early and later in the night. I had actually inspected the nest location a prior night about five days earlier when the available moonlight was 78%. My assessment at that time was there was not enough natural light for night owl photography.

Finally I needed to use manual focus. Auto focus does not work in the pitch dark. Here is how I proceeded. My first image was taken at 3,200 ISO. I would examine the results, and then adjust both my camera’s aim and focus. I took about ten photographs before I had the focus and air properly determined.

I hope to repeat this process twice more with this owl family … the April and May full moons. I definitely made mistakes during this process. Here are those errors:

  1. Bring more than one flashlight. While I never pointed the flashlight at the owl, or anywhere near the bird, I did need light to see buttons and switches on my camera. The cold weather (15F) caused my flashlight’s batteries to crump. I had to stop, hike home, and get another flashlight. When I returned I brought not one, but two working flashlights for my ultimately successful photography session.
  2. I should have determined where (the location) I wanted to take my images during the day, and then figured out my manual focus settings during daylight hours. I could then have placed sticks during the day on the ground exactly where I wanted my tripod located after dark given my manual focus settings (previously written down during the day). I will use this approach next time.

The entire photo session was fun. I tried to create a video, but it was too dark for movies. Last night I learned even more about night photography which is something I enjoy, while at the same time following ethical bird / owl photography rules … no flash or artificial light which would blind the bird.