Great Horned Owl Couple At Sunrise

The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is very widespread, and can be found across most of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and northern regions... more

by Morris Finkelstein

Title

Great Horned Owl Couple At Sunrise

Artist

Morris Finkelstein

Medium

Photograph

Description

The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is very widespread, and can be found across most of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and northern regions of South America. It is a large and powerful owl, with a length of about 22 inches and a weight of about 3.1 pounds. In its wooded habitat, it is frequently seen perched at dusk. Great Horned Owls are mostly nocturnal, hunting at night for small mammals (rabbits, mice, voles), reptiles, and amphibians from their perch, and roosting during the day. They are usually solitary and well-camouflaged, and very difficult to spot. The feet and talons of the Great Horned Owl are particularly large and powerful, with the fully spread foot measuring over 7 inches, and with over 300 pounds per square inch of crushing power in their talons.

This Great Horned Owl pair (male on left, female on right) roosting in an American Holly (Ilex opaca) at sunrise, was photographed in Greenwich, Connecticut, on 12-7-2018. I used a Nikon D850 camera body and a Nikkor 500mm f/4.0E FL ED VR2 telephoto lens to capture this image. Settings: 1/30 sec (handheld), f/5.0, ISO 2000. I was very lucky to be able to see this couple perched together just as the sun was rising, and captured this handheld image at 1/30th of a second. They moved apart within 5 or 10 seconds of this shot.

I am honored that my photograph was featured in the Fine Art America groups:
Images That Excite You, 12-20-2018
Animal Photographs, 12-20-2018
Nikon Full Frame Cameras, 12-21-2018
USA Photographers Only, 12-23-2018
Wild Birds Of The World, 12-24-2018
FAA Portraits, 12-24-2018
FAA Portraits - Birds, 12-24-2018
Poetic Poultry, 12-25-2018
Five Star Artist, 1-2-2019
10 Plus, 1-9-2019
Kingdom Animalia, 1-15-2019
A Birding Group - Wings, 9-2-2019
The World We See Group, 12-10-2019
Wildlife One-A-Day, 12-18-2019
Photography And Nature 101, 1-21-2020
Nature Landmarks Landscapes Wildlife, 3-29-2020
Go Take A Hike Photography, 4-27-2021
500 Views, 6-16-2021
500 Views Share Group, 4-21-2022
A Gorgeous Green - Nature And Photography, 10-8-2022
Glimpses Of Autumn, 2-22-2023
1000 Views, 1-7-2024

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Uploaded

December 18th, 2018