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.

Barred Owl At Miners Cove
Barred Owl At Miners Cove

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 Æ’/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.