The rest of the Owl Centre Birds

[JohnC]

These are the other photos I took at the  Owl Centre (one is a Buzzard of course)  I really went to improve my ' birds in flight' skills. Manual, Av or TV ? I went for Av a lot of the time but some in manual. Big debate about it. The birds would be in a tree at the far end  of the field (or with Handler number two) and the handler on the other side of the field   or down in the grass with tit bits so we knew the flight path in advance. He was in the grass in the photo of the Buzzard about to land on the 'footpath' sign,there was a tit bit on there. Unless you're a prof. bird photographer you'd be unlikely to get the opportunity to photograph them so close and in flight so, these photos for me are more about getting the shot right than having a photo of them in itself.  I've  recently seen 4 Buzzards  in the wild but as I moved in their direction  they moved further away ,it was like chasing a mirage. At least they get to fly in open fields and the Buzzard is free to go but he  chooses  to stay
.























The Litle owl.

[Danny Power]

These are out of this world John. Absolutley excellent job done here. I could look at these all day. They remind me of being in primary school and a guy used to come in and do a presentation on birds and we had the opportunity to buy his photos, these are much better though

[paulster78]

Amazing shots John, love the buzzard coming in to land and the last one is a cracker with a lovely reflection in the owls eyes. 

[markt]

Beautiful shots John!  Where abouts is the owl centre?  I've been to a couple of the red kite sanctuarys in wales and really enjoyed them.
Mark

[JohnC]

Many thanks. It was a good day, really.

here's the website,mark. It's on the outskirts of Gloucester on a new(ish) dual carriageway from Cole Avenue through to the Ross road,it's ion the left after you go over the river bridge. http://www.barnowl.co.uk/

[martinastro]

These are beautiful images!, the little Owl capture is a stunner  . I would imagine the Owl in flight to be an extremely difficult subject to capture while freezing the Bird without underexposure - challenging indeed however no problem for you John 

[JohnC]

  Thanks Martin, you're too kind . I did delete a few you know Lol.

[JohnMurphy]

Fabulous shots John. Well done. Looks like it was a great day out too. Hard to pick a favourite, I think number 7 is very natural looking and I love the one of the little owl in the hole.

[JohnC]

Cheers,John. What I should have done with the Little owl was to have taken a shot further out so the hole in the trunk would show just how little he/she is, about the size of a pigeon, I'd say.The man next to me had a £4300 canon 1D 1V and a  £7200 600mm Canon prime lens and the camera shoots 10fps. ( my 7D does 8,so not too far behind-except in cost Lol)