It’s owl Friday again, and this one isn’t technically the best photo in the world, nor is the subject matter going to be appreciated by everyone, but it is very unusual behavior — at least it seems that way from all the research that I did. It was very late in the day and the sun had long since set when I saw this snowy owl attack a male mallard. Even the owl seemed a bit surprised and confused as to what to do next with this unusual catch. It tried several times to fly away with the duck but didn’t seem to have the strength. Twenty minutes later, it remained sitting on top of the duck trying to decide what to do about the situation. Eventually it got too dark for me to even see what was going on anymore so I left the scene and let nature take its course. I usually don’t like to shoot above 1600 ISO but this one was captured at 3200 because of the extreme low light (it was actually much darker than it appears in the photo). Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
This is good lighting,for being so dark out, at 3200, what meneu on your camera do you find this in I want to start using natural lighting tech neeks, ect, on my pic. ZSo I don;t have to[ used flashed ect. to take my pic. thanks
Hey Michael,
On my camera, there is an ISO dial on top of the camera (as well as a menu on the camera’s back) but not all cameras will go up that high on the ISO, or if they do go that high the images might be very grainy. I don’t mind a bit of grain and I think that sometimes it can look pretty cool. You’ll have to turn off auto on your camera because in dark situations auto will always cause the camera’s flash to pop up. P mode, however, will use auto aperture and shutter without popping the flash. Good luck.
looks like the owl far outweighs the duck but the duck is still too heavy to be carried away like a vole. Sort of a case where the owl’s eyes are bigger than his stomach or something like that….his reach exceeds his grasp? whatever……can’t beat nature, eh
So glad you posted this. Some great photographers would pass this up because of the low light or most likely they stopped looking because it was getting dark.. This is not typical of a snowy owl. If you’re going to photograph wildlife well, you also need to document animal behavior. Not an easy thing to do, but you just have to keep on looking, because you never know what’s going to happen.
Hey Rachel,
Yes, I always stay well past sunset. You never know what might happen. And fading twilight is sometimes the best light. I tried doing a google search of snowy owls and ducks and it sounds like they will go after certain ducks. I couldn’t find any pictures though. I think this was a juvenile owl and a bit smaller than a full grown adult.
I love shots like this. Shows Mother Nature’s critters at work surviving and all the challenges it takes to do so. I think the subject matter is more important than the technical perfection of the shot. You did great with what you had.
Very interesting, nature as is. I’m so glad you shared this and didn’t shelf it. The best nature shots are not always crystal clear, sometimes it’s just not possible to catch the essence of nature that way.
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This is good lighting,for being so dark out, at 3200, what meneu on your camera do you find this in I want to start using natural lighting tech neeks, ect, on my pic. ZSo I don;t have to[ used flashed ect. to take my pic. thanks
Hey Michael,
On my camera, there is an ISO dial on top of the camera (as well as a menu on the camera’s back) but not all cameras will go up that high on the ISO, or if they do go that high the images might be very grainy. I don’t mind a bit of grain and I think that sometimes it can look pretty cool. You’ll have to turn off auto on your camera because in dark situations auto will always cause the camera’s flash to pop up. P mode, however, will use auto aperture and shutter without popping the flash. Good luck.
looks like the owl far outweighs the duck but the duck is still too heavy to be carried away like a vole. Sort of a case where the owl’s eyes are bigger than his stomach or something like that….his reach exceeds his grasp? whatever……can’t beat nature, eh
So glad you posted this. Some great photographers would pass this up because of the low light or most likely they stopped looking because it was getting dark.. This is not typical of a snowy owl. If you’re going to photograph wildlife well, you also need to document animal behavior. Not an easy thing to do, but you just have to keep on looking, because you never know what’s going to happen.
Hey Rachel,
Yes, I always stay well past sunset. You never know what might happen. And fading twilight is sometimes the best light. I tried doing a google search of snowy owls and ducks and it sounds like they will go after certain ducks. I couldn’t find any pictures though. I think this was a juvenile owl and a bit smaller than a full grown adult.
I love shots like this. Shows Mother Nature’s critters at work surviving and all the challenges it takes to do so. I think the subject matter is more important than the technical perfection of the shot. You did great with what you had.
Wow. That is amazing! I can’t believe that happened. So weird. What a great shot.
Very interesting, nature as is. I’m so glad you shared this and didn’t shelf it. The best nature shots are not always crystal clear, sometimes it’s just not possible to catch the essence of nature that way.
This is totally bizarre to see whether it’s typical or not. Just looks like he was interested in a cushy seat, haha. Amazing picture!