Early Birds !

I was out and about well before dawn this morning and spent the first hour of my day looking for early Short Eared Owls.

I saw two between a beautiful dawn and a wispy cloud sunrise but the real jewel in the crown on this lovely crisp morning was a hunting Barn Owl at the same location.

Exposure can be difficult during early mornings so I fired away on Auto ISO set up to a max of 6400 while trying to retain reasonably fast shutter speeds as this bird hunted in the rough grass fields all around me.

Lots of failed shots but I felt that the better images posted below captured the essence of the encounter in the dramatic early morning light.

The Barn Owl worked hard for its large Vole pray which it carried off in the direction of the rising sun and I headed back home for my breakfast delighted with the early encounters !