Spooky New year friend - Action photography of owl in DAYLIGHT!

That intense Orange gaze spent chills down my spine on the first day of new year 😀

I am no stranger to owls. As you may have seen from my posts in the past, I go looking for owls to photograph at all odd hours of night. This time though, it was different.

I am not a big party person and had a modest new year party. I set out the next day in the morning to see what I could photograph.

Least did I expect that my new year photography session would open with an OWL in DAYLIGHT!

I captured some moods of the owl and it's flight poses too with it's beautiful wing patterns-

I was on the bank of a smallish river, more like an ego-inflated stream when I noticed some movement near the trees on the opposite bank. I clicked a couple of quick shots and was very surprised to see the distinctive wing span and pattern of the Rock Eagle owl!

This large owl is known to be seen sometimes in daytime but it is usually roosting in some shady tree and not flying around.

When I tracked it and located it sitting in a large tree on the opposite bank, I started clicking pictures. Noticing my movement, the owl immediately hooted and also raised a claw. Almost as if to say "Halt! Who goes there!" 😀

It watched me for some time patiently and was intrigued by my activities - at least I think so because it flew to a tree much closer to me and stared at me. Here is the 'eye to eye' stare!

I got a very spooky feeling but did not give up my ground. I did not have the nerve to keep staring in those orange eyes though! So, I kept my lens up but averted my eyes.

Once or twice when I did look up, the owl seemed to almost say - "Do you want me to thump you - here I come" with it's body language. LOL😀

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Of course, it was all show - just to let me know it was his territory and to show me who was boss!

I respected the boundaries and backed away a few steps. This seemed to satisfy the owl and it flew away to the other side of the bank again... allowing me to click a spectacular flight shot 😀

I enjoyed the encounter very much and it made my New Year's first day very special.
I used following settings on my D500 Nikon + 200-500 Nikkor lens

• Support: Handheld since I was walking around, tracking the owl
• Shutter : 1/2000s Most important for capturing potential flight shots
• Aperture: 7.1 (for more depth of field than my usual 5.6)
• ISO:800 Higher ISO for higher shutter speed in the early morning light

What do you think ? Do you think it was worth it? Have you attempted or would you attempt anything like this in photography? If so, please share your experience in comments.

Please comment freely and let me know your opinion. I will try to bring many different types of wildlife photos/macro/Astro posts to the community. Feedback and comments are welcome,. I am still learning many techniques and always value feedback from experts in this community.

Have a nice day everyone. Cheers!