Got a tip from a fellow “Owl’er”. I took the chance with the weather and took off 80 miles to find the nest, still in Central Illinois. Had a pin where to park, and a rough map of where the cavity tree was, but still took me a while to located it. Especially since I had map upside down and started off walking away from the nest. Went back to the truck and regrouped and started over in the right direction. When I finally found the hole, only 1 fuzzy white head was visible. I got 3 shots off hand held before it went back down inside the tree. Moved the truck into location where I could observe the tree for over an hour with NO activity. Decided I go to the nearest town, grabbed lunch and a bio break.
Went back to observation spot, still nothing. I reclined the trucks seat and started streaming Shelby’s college softball game. I would check the cavity every time they changed the field. Finally in the bottom of the 4th, mom was spotted in the nest cavity. I don’t know if she flew in, or if she climbed up from deeper in the cavity.
You can barely see the top of one of the two owlets trying to push it’s way up.
These were shot with the new RF600mm F4 IS with a 1.4 TC so effectively a 840mm f5.6
Loving the new lens, and I’ll be back to check on this family again. Judging by the size of the one Owlet I saw, they will start to fletching soon.
At least I finally found a brown owl (with help), just wish is was closer to home. I’ll be back in the woods looking for more local owls closer to home next week.
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Life is good and I am blessed!
