Tag: great horned owl

Subtle Hints

A great horned owl perches in a palo verde while a massive saguaro towers in the background in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on

I’ve seen a number of owls while walking Bear the past couple of years and have focused on taking environmental portraits to highlight how different their home is here compared to the other places I’ve lived. In this picture I used an extremely subtle hint to suggest this owl lives in the Sonoran Desert.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm + 1.4X
🗓️: May 11, 2024

Head on a Swivel

A great horned owl perches on a saguaro, framed by two out-of-focus arms of a closer saguaro, in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 12, 2024. Original: _A672530.ARW

Normally I set up the tripod at the edge of the trail but to frame the owl between the arms of the nearby saguaro I had to be smack dab in the middle. I kept my head on a swivel, not so much for riders coming uphill as they’re usually huffing and puffing pretty good at this point, but for riders coming downhill where gravity is their friend. The owl did the same as it had two young charges nearby, mostly it was looking away from me, perhaps keeping an eye out for the family of hawks that live in the distance. Luckily for me I had the trail to myself and had plenty of time to wait for it to swivel its head back into view.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: May 12, 2024

Kindred Spirits

A great horned owlet perched in a tree squints as the sun rises in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 12, 2024. Original: _A672444.ARW

I know that look, I was probably wearing it as I took the picture. We night owls can both love being out at sunrise and loathe how early it arrives. I wish I’d found this owlet and its sibling a few minutes earlier, though I like the sense the sun is starting to crest the hill, I wish I also had a shot just before where the entire scene would have been softly lit. I thought about going out early the next few days before work but it wasn’t happening.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: May 12, 2024

The Pupil, A Master

A great horned owl sits in a round opening in a large boulder at McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 20, 2024. Original: _A679192.ARW

Ensconced in the cliff face looks to be the skull of a leviathan that once swam in long dead seas. One day I noticed a pupil in the empty eye socket, the pupil a master, waiting for night to fall. I started bringing my telephoto lens on our walks and one day caught the pupil stepping into the light, my favorite wildlife picture in a long while. Bear and I shared a little laugh wondering how many times we walked past not knowing the unseeing eye watched us from on high.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: April 20, 2024