On January 15, 2015, I spotted a Short-eared Owl at the Ridgefield NWR. The owl landed on the ground for a few seconds at first, then took off and flew around for a couple of minutes. I watched it carefully as I did not want to lose sight of the bird. It then landed a second time and stayed put for 15 minutes or so–that’s when I took hundreds of photos. Today’s image was taken just as it took off from its first landing. Beings it was near dusk, I leaned toward boosting my ISO setting due to low light and keeping my shutter speed at 1/1000 or faster, just in case the bird flew. The lowest ISO setting I used was 2500, and that includes this shot. I also took shots of the bird on the ground, up to 25 minutes later when serious darkness had set in, at ISO 10000. Click here if you want to take a look at that high ISO image. Thanks for your views!
Canon 5D Mark III, 1/1000, f4, ISO 2500, 500mm, 4:15 p.m. in dark overcast conditions.
