Owls are today’s primary subject.  Of all of the nature subjects that I have photographed, it seems owls and foxes are the two that everyone loves.  I have always analyzed and agonized over why people like this photo and not that photo.  Why do people like that subject and not this subject.  Owls almost seem magic.  I do think that many people do not realize just how different the personalities are of each species (and individual) of owl.

Of the owl species that I have had the privledge of observing, the open country Short-eared Owl is by far the most intense.   All is quiet on the prairie and then around dusk an explosion takes place!   An owl explosion!  These critters take over the world with a flurry of activity.  Their ragged and uneven flight patterns can be seen from a mile away.  They are however not particularily concerned with your presence.

One mistake that many photographers make is assuming that SEOs only fly at dawn or dusk.   I have photographed these guys at 10 am, 1 pm and 2:30 pm.   Often while I have been waiting for other photographers to show up I have been making pictures.  The first three pictures below are SEOs and they were made at around 2:30 in the afternoon.

Photographing SEOs in the warm light of dusk does have its rewards.  Caught this guy very late on a winter’s day.

Snowy Owls are the polar (pardon the pun) opposites of Short-eared Owls.  They are laid back.  They hunt from a perch whenever possible and can sit easily in one spot for 12 hours at a time.  As amiable and easy going as they are, they are also fearless.  Eagles, hawks, other owls, people and motor vehicles mean little to a Snowy Owl.  Those last two facts are at times sad for the owls. I have been fortunate to have had several different Snowies inhabit my life and those below are from a variety of locations.  The second bird below was the first Snowy that I ever photographed.  This lady (queen?) will always be a special memory.

My home state of Wisconsin is again exploding with an invasion of Short-ears and Snowy Owls.  Federal Dike Rd. at my beloved Horicon Marsh NWR has had both species “hangin around” lately.   For those of you headed that way, there are Barred Owls living in that neck of the woods as well. There was a time not long ago that I would have revolved my entire life around this event.  I wish you all good fortune.

I really have made pictures of Great-horned Owls in several different settings.  I keep coming back to this hollow tree, partially because the files are handy, but mainly because of the personal memories they hold for me.  Not just the owls but the people that I shared this experience with as well.

These triplets are bathed in the “sweet light” of sunrise, and looking at mom and dad

I have certainly failed to build photo stock on the common Eastern Screech Owl.  A few bad flight shots made in the late 1980s and this 2006 picture of a gray phase owl is all I have to show for all of these years in nature photography.

In addition to these owl species, Wisconsin has the previously mentioned Barred Owls and Long-eared Owls as residents.  On rare occasions a Barn Owl is spotted and in winter, depending on food sources in Canada, the Great Gray Owl, Boreal Owl and the Northern Hawk Owl make appearances.

Gentle waves make this female Common Goldeneye look like the navigator that she truly is.

Who goes there?  One of my favorite parts of the wild world is turtles.  I have an especially good rapport with the Common Snapping Turtle.  You would not want to get bit by one of these reptiles but the truth is, they are a gentile creature that just wants to go about their daily routine of living.

One of the many inspiring canyons in the semi-arid northwestern corner of Colorado

This sunset of a sea stack was made on Washington State’s Pacific Coast.  In fact this is a part of Olympic N.P. and is the last wilderness ocean front in the lower 48 states.  There is one two lane road here and no buildings or residents of any sort

Some weeks ago I said a visual good-bye to autumn proper.  Today we say so long to the last vestiges of late autumn.  This shot was made while using my 500 mm f4 wildlife lens, as I wanted to compress or flatten the leafless foreground trees and the colorful Willow Tree onto one plane.

I sit here in a darkened room writing this post, and I notice the sun peering from under the curtains.  I remember how impossible it would have been at one time, to keep me from grabbing my cameras and heading out for a meeting with nature.  My lover you know. Time goes on an we are where we are and we are probably where we’re supposed to be.

Still I cannot help but remember.

Thanks and God Bless