Third of four issues

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Photographing Owls

Eastern Screech-Owl, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania. Olympus OM-D E-M1

Mark II, M.Zuiko 300mm F4.0 IS PRO lens. Exposure: 1/500 sec., f/4.0, ISO 1600.

Presented by
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By Matt Mendenhall • Photos by Scott Bourne
Most owl species are nocturnal and small, and the birds
are often camouflaged. These qualities make them pop-
ular for birders to see but also among the most difficult
birds for photographers to photograph.
Owl photography “requires a lot of patience and
planning,” says professional photographer and Olympus
Visionary Scott Bourne. He has been taking pictures of
owls for about 30 years. “As with any bird, or any type of
bird photography, the more you know about your subject,
the easier it will be.”
The first time he tried to photograph owls, he struck
out because he hadn’t studied them and couldn’t find
them. “I had to learn to adapt my behavior to their
behavior,” he says.
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“One of the best ways to look for them is to not look for
them but to listen for them,” Bourne says. It’s import-
ant to note that listening for owls doesn’t always mean
listening for hoots. Depending on the species, owls may
whistle, bark, trill, screech, or hoot. To get up to speed
on owl sounds, look for reputable resources of bird calls
Eurasian Eagle-Owl (captive).
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark
II, M.Zuiko 40-150mm
F2.8 PRO. Exposure: 1/100
sec., f/2.8, ISO 800.
including Audubon, the Macaulay Library at the Cornell
Lab of Ornithology, the bird-sound database Xeno-canto,
the BirdsEye and iBird apps, and many others.
Studying owl sounds will also help you distinguish
their calls from those of similar-sounding birds. Case
in point: the mournful woo-woo-woo song of the com-
mon Mourning Dove. “I get a lot of calls,” Bourne says,
“where the person is excited and says, ‘Scott, there’s an
owl living by my house.’ And I have to say, ‘No, there
isn’t. That’s a Mourning Dove.”
After you hear an owl, there’s no guarantee you’ll find
it, at least not right away. Bourne recalls that the first
time he saw a Western Screech-Owl, he heard the bird
for 10 days before he finally saw it. “I walked by it about
15 times and couldn’t see it,” he says. Eventually a furtive
movement caught Bourne’s eye, and he spotted the bird
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in a woodpecker nest.
Hearing an owl can help you find a frequent
roost site or, at the right time of year, a nest. If
you hear a bird but can’t see it, Bourne offers
this tip: “Look for trees with hollowed-out
limbs, and then be in the area around dusk
because that’s when owls get active most of
the year. Once you know the owl is in that
nest or perch or where it roosts, the next step
is to move slowly to let the birds get used to
you. Move five feet, stop, wait five minutes,
and move five feet. Stop and wait five more
minutes, move five feet, and so on.”
Bourne acknowledges that most people
don’t have the patience to move slowly to
get to a favorable photography spot. “But it’s
what’s required if you want to do serious owl
photography in the wild.”
If you’re lucky enough to locate a nest that
an owl is sitting on, wait until the bird goes Eastern Screech-Owl, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania.
out to hunt, and then bring a blind and set Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, M.Zuiko 300mm F4.0 IS PRO
it up. Then, Bourne explains, “during the lens. Exposure: 1/200 sec., f/4.5, ISO 1000.
daytime, before dusk, get in the blind, and
the bird won’t be bothered by you at all.” IS PRO, which then gives you an effective field of view
Daytime owl photography in the warmer months is of 840mm. It will take you from F4.0 to F5.6, but that’s
possible, depending on where you live, he adds, because physics; all teleconverters do that. It’s worth it because it
most owls are more active in the summer, when the days gives you the extra reach, and my experience with owls
are longer and they’re feeding young. is you always need the extra reach. You can simply never
have too much lens when you’re photographing an owl.”
E1#%)3810%8#*) Plus, the camera and lens are weathersealed, so you can
To take photos of owls that you’re proud of, you almost use them in all kinds of conditions.
always need a telephoto lens. Another advantage to having a really long lens when
“Olympus makes the best lens I’ve ever used — the you’re photographing an owl, in addition to getting
M.Zuiko 300mm F4.0 IS PRO lens, Bourne says. “It’s close to it, is that the birds are often high up in trees at
just sharper than anything in the world. unflattering angles. Most photo buyers aren’t interested
“It gives the same field of view as a 600mm lens, and in shots where you’re shooting straight up on the bird,
when paired with an OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, it Bourne says. “There’s a thing called angle of declination,
provides superior image stabilization. It has six legitimate and it basically means when you’re shooting with a long
stops of image stabilization, so you can shoot at a much telephoto lens, the fact that you’re not at eye level with
lower shutter speed than you would normally be able to the bird is kind of masked,” he explains. “It makes you
do handheld and still get a sharp shot.” And together, he look like you’re higher up than you are.
notes, the camera and lens autofocus quickly. “One of the other advantages of the Olympus system is
Olympus cameras and lenses provide top-notch color that it has incredibly good tracking autofocus,” he adds.
clarity, meaning that owls (or any other subject) are “That means it’ll lock onto the subject, and if the subject
photographed accurately. “It doesn’t insert any color dis- moves, it’ll keep locked on to it. This is kind of a break-
tortion. It’s a pro lens in every way. You can also use the through in Micro Four Thirds photography. No other
Olympus MC 1.4 teleconverter with the 300mm F4.0 camera system can match it in the mirrorless world.”

Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl, San Diego Wild Animal Park.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, M.Zuiko 40-150mm
F2.8 PRO. Exposure: 1/1000 sec., f/5.6, ISO 200.
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Even though Bourne is best known for eagle photogra-
phy, “It’s my super-tight face shots of owls that get me
the most reviews. Few people can see a full-face portrait
of an owl, because they’re just a wisp in the dark for
most of us. So when you can analyze these birds and
see the majesty and features like the feathers around the
beak, for example, you get a sense of what they’re like.”
One of the species he has taken portraits of is the Ver-
reaux’s Eagle-Owl (above, also known as Milky Eagle-Owl),
a native of Africa. He photographed it at the San Diego
Wild Animal Park and was able to cap-
ture images of a younger bird that had
pink eyelids. The color changes to black
or gray after an eagle-owl is five years old.
“Most people never get to see the pink de-
tail because you only get a quick view, but
if you have a really tight portrait of it, you
get to show that kind of thing,” he says.
Taking portraits is helpful for iden-
tification “but also for education and
getting people to appreciate the birds,”
Bourne adds. “My favorite thing about
bird photography is getting people to
look at something they can’t usually see.”
When you’re new to photographing
owls, Bourne says you should go to a
zoo, bird sanctuary, or wildlife rehab center to take
photos. “You’re going to have a much better time, and
you’ll often be able to see birds in daylight.” If you
photograph owls in a controlled setting, Bourne highly
recommends shooting tight close-ups to avoid showing
the busy backgrounds, such as cages or people.
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When you photograph owls at night, you’ll need a flash
to get enough light on the bird. “From an ornithologi-
cal point of view, the flash does absolutely no harm or
damage to the bird,” Bourne says. “Nobody who reads
this publication loves birds more than me, and if I
thought it hurt them to use the flash, I absolutely would
not. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation about

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flash, but it doesn’t bother the bird a bit.”
Bourne uses the Olympus FL-900R electronic flash
and says it’s “fantastic.” “It’s called a TTL flash, which
stands for through the lens,” he explains. “It means it
works looking through the lens to be able to meter the
scene and give you an accurate representation of the
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Eurasian Eagle-Owl (captive).
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II,
M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8 PRO.
Exposure: 1/125 sec., f/2.8, ISO 800.
image without overpowering the sub-
ject. It will balance the ambient light
with the flash to make it look much
more natural. And the flash is weather-
sealed so you can use it in the rain.”
And no matter what time of day you
go out to photograph owls, Bourne
stresses the need to move slowly when
you’re in sight of a bird. “Owls are
easily frightened,” he notes. “I strong-
ly urge people to not be careless with
their movements.”
The bottom line, Bourne believes, is
that “when photographers love owls,
are willing to learn about them, and have patience, they
can tell their stories with a camera.”
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