02/10/2026
Moring all. I hope you had a great 'Superb-Owl' Sunday (Go Seahawks!). Although I did get back in time for the pregame show, I was out in Delta BC at first light photographing this lovely short eared owl seen coming in for a landing. I love owls as subjects, but I don't usually go looking to photograph them - this is because I prefer where possible to have a situation where it's just me and my subject without anyone else around. Owls often get the paparazzi treatment from local bird photographers - sometimes with dozens of people vying for a shot. And once you get several photographers photographing an owl, it's only a matter of time before one photographer decides to 'get closer' and starts crowding the owl, and then a bunch more people follow suit. Often these decisions are due to excitement and inexperience instead of selfishness or apathy, but the net effect is the same - the owl gets pressured, its ability to hunt or rest gets disrupted, and then it flies away. Not great for the owl. Not great for your photography either (unless you like photographing owl posterior). Better by far is to pick a spot, and then stay very still. Often, if an owl does not feel threatened by your presence, it will spend quite a bit of time hunting in a relatively small area. If you are patient and just remain still and quiet, you've got a decent chance that the owl may wind up moving much closer to you than you could ever achieve by trying to move towards it, simply because it is comfortable with your presence - you let the owl set the distance. Anyhow, that's my 2 cents on photographing owls. Hope you are having a lovely day!
