Best shots yet?

I thought Tuesday’s post would be my last long post on GG for a while but how wrong could I be? That same morning I got a message that a bird was showing well and I was able to get up into the Dale quickly enough to see the bird briefly and then in the afternoon I returned and had an amazing 2 hours with the bird. It was active in great light, at close range and even flew right towards me at one stage (that head-on flight shot I have been hoping for..). If my pictures are not up to expectations then I can only blame the camera operator although the flight shots were definitely ones where better equipment could have given better results (one still needs to know how to use the equipment..).

The bird was clearly hunting in the afternoon but stayed on the same perch for over an hour which really has me thinking that food is hard to find and that it has worked out that it is best to stay put once you have heard the rustle of a vole rather than move on to a new spot and start the whole process again.

The first picture is the picture which I had wanted to take when the owl launched itself towards us. Instead this is picture was taken by Eyvind Rugland who was standing beside me. Eyvind has a better camera and faster lens than me but also knows how to use his equipment.

whereas my pictures looks like this... 

and this...

and this.... which is nearly presentable

could have been good. My problem was that my shutter speed of 1/640 was too low 

almost

here the bird passed at just a few metres range and the zoom was at 252mm. Just think if the head had been in the middle of the shot and in focus....

the bird then landed on a sunny post which allowed me to play around with exposure compensation and get some nice dark backgrounds

take off after 1 hour on the same perch

the branch looks to be an extension of its body

I guess I can be happy with this shot