Hearing, recently, that there was a barred owl at the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton, I went over, hoping to see it. I checked the exact branch where it had been seen several times, but no owl.
I had just packed up my camera gear when I heard that the owl was at the edge of the woods and indeed it was. Just after I had created the above image, for which I had lowered my tripod mounted DSLR camera way down and was on my knees in the snow, the owl swooped down, snatched a rodent, rose up and landed on a branch about five feet up directly over my head. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get my camera pointed up to capture what would have been a neat closeup. He didn’t wait.
The image I did get was captured with a medium length telephoto lens.
Anne E. Ely is affiliated with the Robert Floyd Photo Gallery, 2 East St., Southampton. Other images are on view there Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. and by appointment.