Birds of Prey….part 1
This is my first attempt at photographing owls and hawks. The set up was a little awkward, bright sun, a canopy, and a fixed point of view. The effort was further complicated by the fact that I turn into a total fan girl when I get that close to birds of prey…..ah well.
Barred Owl, it’s blind in one eye and is now used for educational outreach.
Eastern Screech-Owls. They are variable in color and quite small, only 6 oz. it took me an absurd amount of time to realize only one of these were fake.
A Red Tail Hawk with a wing injury. It’s hoped that it will heal enough to fly and possibly be released.
I think this is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, but it might be a Broad-winged Hawk. They are both much smaller than I realized and there was too much lag time between the event and downloading the images….ah well. This image illustrates the lighting problems I had. The birds were kept in the shade due to the heat, but lack of space forced the handlers into the sun, creating a huge range of lighting conditions. Digital photography makes it much easier to correct a bad exposure, but it’s very easy to over adjust making the pictures oddly unbalanced.
Wildlife rehabilitators amaze me. The amount of time and work they invest in helping these animals is truly staggering……
cheech 297 
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