The Owls are Back!

It's been so warm that we thought maybe the mud might be gone on one of our favorite trails.  We were happy to find that the mud was gone (mostly) and the owls are already nesting.  The female was in the nest in the hollow tree and occasionally popped her head up to look at her oglers.  The male didn't care who saw him and was sound asleep in a place very visible from the trail. :-))  The female is probably already sitting on eggs which should hatch about mid March.  Then the owlets will stay around for about 90 days being cared for by their parents before they go off on their own.  This pair has been nesting here for many years.  I'm going to try to get there at least one a week to keep up with them so there will hopefully be several more owl blips coming.

I took a few shots on auto so I could check them out to see what settings the camera chose.  Then I spent a while trying various manual settings.  After uploading at home I analyzed the settings and the resulting image.  Interestingly, the auto settings didn't compensate enough for the owl being shaded and he was quite dark.  I think this shot is a little overexposed but the next one was a little under and I liked this one better.  It was hard to get it right with all the brightness behind him.  I took notes so next time I'll have a plan for settings.  So, this is my first fully manual, straight out of the camera shot that I have posted on Blip.  I'm learning!  :-)

Thank you very much to everyone for the stars on yesterday's blip!  Comments will go back on Wednesday.  I'm feeling kind of lonesome without them but I have been making very good use of my extra time.  I WILL find the balance so I can have both!