Shortear Owls

[MontanaDave]

Spent the last 2 evenings photographing short-eared owls.
They have been flying about 300 meters above the ground, then diving and fluttering.
Does anyone here know what that behavior is about? First photo is an example.

Sunset is at 8pm, and they have been most active 6:30-7:30pm
Last night I had 2 five-second incoming events that made photos easy.

 

[Jeff15]

A very good set ...

 

[denum]

Stunning images. Very nice detail. Beautiful.

 

[Digger...]

Does anyone here know what that behavior is about?

Google says there horny.

The short-eared owls you observed flying 300 meters high and then diving and fluttering are likely performing a courtship display, where males climb to high altitudes, circle, and then plummet towards the ground while clapping their wings.

 

[MontanaDave]

Google says there horny.

The short-eared owls you observed flying 300 meters high and then diving and fluttering are likely performing a courtship display, where males climb to high altitudes, circle, and then plummet towards the ground while clapping their wings.

YES!
A wildlife biologist friend told me that dive/flutter is "courtship flapping"
as males display to females. I did not know short-ears mate this late in the year,
as great-horned owls are mating in February.
The courtship dive and flapping from 300 meters down to the ground is quite the sight!

 

[NerdyTimelapser]

Wow great pics! Mind to share your setup?

 

[MontanaDave]

Wow great pics! Mind to share your setup?

Canon R5 with RF 200-800mm lens. The owls were pretty far away so I was shooting in 1.6 crop mode,
and at 800mm. I shoot shutter priority as that lens is F9 "wide open" at 800mm and I start at 1/2000 second with bright sky and drop as low as 1/500 sec as the sun sets. H frames per second which in the R5 is 12 frames per second.
I shoot with ISO as high as 12800 with the R5, as high as ISO6400 with the R7and denoise using ON1 Photo Raw 2025 no-noise AI.

 

[NerdyTimelapser]

Thanks for that very detailed answer, and respect for being able to track/frame them at that extreme focal length

 

[MontanaDave]

Went back this morning...not nearly as much activity and no courtship wing flapping behavior.
One 5-second event in an hour of sitting. Looks like evenings are better for courtship activity and also brighter light.

 

[mvetrano2]

Nice shots!