Where Eagles Dare

This morning I met up with the CNPA at the Carolina Raptor Center for a private photo shoot for 3 hours. This is my personal favorite of the set as I love Golden Eagles and how the light was working for this shot. 

I really enjoyed playing around with the lighting on this shot! Very majestic bird!

The CRC had a wide variety of birds of prey, especially the owls. These shots were taken with my Canon EF 100-400mm lens and it worked wonderfully.  The background is blurred out and the way I shot this the pine needles in front of the owl is out of focus and barely noticeable!

I really like how this Great Horned Owl can change his looks from gentle owl to "I'm going to GET you!" by retracting his 'horns'.

This is a barn owl and was actually my first subject of the day. It was then I noticed the 'light' and how it outlined the edge of this bird. I looked for the same light later on. Glad I am able to notice when the 'light' is doing some cool things to my subject!

This was one of the few shots I used my 24-70mm instead of my EF 100-400mm on to show how little this screech owl is and how well he blended in to this tree trunk. You will probably never notice one of these little birds in the forest as they sit very still. 

Here is a close up of this tiny owl. One of my favorites of the day!

Here is a Peregrine Falcon, one of the fastest animals on with a recorded dive speed of 202 mph! What an amazing creature!

After the photos, we headed up the road and enjoyed some BBQ and good coversation. I had a great time and thanks to the CNPA for coming up with some great venues for us nature loving photographers!

Thanks for reading!

Mark