Northern Pygmy Owl with Prey
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, Canon 500mm IS lens + 1.4X extender, tripod. After this owl (quite unexpectedly) showed up in my backyard yesterday and I got some good shots, I figured that was nice but it would be the last chance I had at the bird. It wasn't around this morning, but this afternoon I looked out to find that it had captured a bird (a House Sparrow based on the markings) and started to feed. This image shows clearly how truly tiny the Pgymy Owl is. What is amazing is that shortly after this image was taken, the owl flew off with its meal to another location. So, it was able to fly carrying something weighing almost as much as itself.
Uploaded on September 25, 2008