There's a wonderful event going here in Eastern Alberta. We're experiencing a fairly rare phenomenon. It seems as if hundreds of Great Gray Owls have made their winter home here. I know this because a few of my favorite photography areas seem to be inn undated with them. One of my favorite means of shooting wildlife is to drive slowly down country roads--that means dirt roads around here--and look into the bushes for any movement. Anything that may stay a bit long to suffer through posing for a picture or two for an active photographer. Usually it's a very hit or miss proposition. Most of the time I don't see very much. Sometimes it can be memorable. Like the time I saw my first Great Gray Owl close up.

Once a couple of years ago, the closest I've come to seeing one of these elusive birds was during a deer shoot. I positioned myself by a deer trail at dusk and expected to see a couple of doe's pass by on their way from a day bed to their dusk feedings. Instead of seeing any deer I was surprised by a flash--a moving shape--in the corner of my eye. As I looked up, I just had enough time to see of large bird (four feet or so wing-span) swooping down at my head. I ducked just in the nick of time and didn't really get a look at my assailant until I turned to see it flying into the nearby forest. It was a Great Gray. Until just a month ago, it was my only sighting of the bird. Several friends had visited the local park and spoke of seeing Great Grays. In fact, they routinely challenged me to get a decent photo of one of them. Since my only encounter with them was spent diving out of the way, I figured I had my work cut out for me.

I woke on a very cold Saturday morning a month ago to see what there was to see in the local provincial park. Usually, there isn't much at all. Occasionally I'm lucky to see a coyote, deer, or even grouse as they make their ways around the park. Most of the time I don't find anything to shoot and come home empty handed. This time was different. As a large field sometimes populated with deer approached, I scanned the terrain for anything. A flash registered in the corner of my eye. Unbelievably perched unbelievably perched on a near by tree was a Great Gray Owl--that elusive bird. Wow! Fearing this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I cautiously jumped out of the car and prepared my gear to shoot his picture. Sure the temperatures were cold enough to freeze boiling water. Did that matter? Not at all. All that mattered was getting that bird's image. The moment was exciting. The bird cooperated by allowing me to approach within 50 yards. Shoot, I couldn't believe my luck. Just when the framing was right, he took off. As everything was coming together, my subject disappeared. Oh well. Quite a common occurrence when in the nature photography business.

Not 20 yards away, toward my car was another Great Gray. He was perched up a tree silently scanning the surrounding snow. Before I could swing my rig into action, He alighted and landed in the field not 30 yards away from me. I stood there frozen--metaphorically and physically--and watched as he snatched up a mouse or vole in his beak and took off for another nearby tree. Then with one flip of his beak, down the mouse went in one gulp.

Almost all these images were taken with a Nikon F5. They were also taken during three different photo shoots. In all cases, I depended on my camera's matrix metering and only applied a slight compensation for the surrounding snow. I think the exposures worked pretty well.

To make it easier to track the birds, I've adopted Arthur Morris' technique of firmly holding the camera with my right hand and griping my Wimberly Sidekick's friction knob with my left. My eye is usually jammed into the view finder to steady things and my finger is ready to shooting at the first sign of action. As a bird flies past, I track and keep my Auto Focus activated using the AF button on the camera's back. It takes a bit of coordination but with practice it works. I don't try to shoot 100% of the time. I try to frame the image and shooting when things begin to come together. This saves film but it doesn't yield that many images.

Another benefit of this technique is tracking become much easier. I've debated many times with myself which sensor to use. All of these in flight images were taken with the center sensor activated. I tried as hard as I could to keep the sensor on the birds head or better yet, his neck. I've found this technique to work fairly well.

Cheers

Tom