I spotted this Barred Owl around 08:40 a.m. at Miner’s Cove at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma (07-31-2018). Miner’s Cove is a great place to see and photograph these Owls. A pair of them raised a couple of young ones which I was able to photograph (Barred Owl Fledglings). I’m surprised this one was out so late in the morning. Most of the time they will go back in the timber a little after sunrise. This was a foggy morning and the fog was just beginning to lift and this maybe why it was out so late.
You can view a higher resolution of this image here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/screek/29908994448/
How I Got The Shot – Barred Owl At Miner’s Cove
I drove up on this Barred Owl which was close to the road. I knew I would have to stay back several yards or it would fly away. I got as close as I could by watching the Owls reaction. I knew if it began moving around that I was scaring it. I was able to park with the Owl toward the front left corner of my pickup. I did have one problem, my mirror was in the way and I could not use my beanbag. I was afraid that if I moved the mirror the noise would scare the Owl plus the angle would still prevent me from using the beanbag.
I was able to get my shutter speed up to 1/640 of a second at ƒ/5.6 with an ISO of 800. I knew this was a fast enough shutter speed for me to photograph a perched Owl. I was able to raise up in my seat and get a few shots over the mirror. I had the exposure mode set at manual with auto ISO and evaluative metering. White Balance set on auto and I was using single point continuous auto focus. This was with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II camera and a Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens.
The Barred Owl stayed in this place for a while and it changed position once to look at something on the ground. It did eventually fly to a nearby tree.