Short-eared Owl in Flight

The bottom photo actually sparked my real passion in digital photography.   I had a digital Rebel, and found a group of about 6 Short-eared Owls on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands, on a beautiful summer evening near dusk.   They all flushed and flew away, except the one shown in the bottom, who just circled me, looking at me curiously.   I took the photo, was thrilled with the result, and entered it in a Canon photo contest.  From over 10,000 entries, the photo won the Grand Prize!!    That's how I won the Canon 20D that has been used for SO many shots on my website.

While I couldn't top that bird for overall experience, I think I actually like the top photo better.  It was of a bird I found on nice winter evening on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands.  I took some photos of him perched on a wooden post, and then he had just taken off when I snapped the top photo.  Aesthetically, it's one of my all-time favorites.

Top photo taken on December 9th, 2005, and the bottom photo taken on July 16th, 2004, both on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota.