The Owl is just capturing a Crayfish here. The small swamp/pool here is filled with prey for them. They can be found in this area often, an Owlet hidden in the nearby woods.

It’s great, exciting, to photograph Owls in this habitat. However, it also pushes the photographer and gear. It gets frustrating even after all the time we have been doing this.

No matter how much practice you have it’s a guarantee you will miss great shots, most all shots really.

• It’s dark, so you shoot slow, the Owls are fast. That’s blur.
• Hot, humid, the last few days 100+ (38c) degrees
• Bugs will suck the life out of you, no really!
• The Owl will dive the moment you move the lens, and behind a tree or moss.
• They suddenly disappear…

Above this Barred Owl had grabbed a Crayfish, and at the same time landed on the Cypress Tree knee (a tree root).

You can see he obviously knew I was here. I almost missed everything (again) since I was about to text Ellen since she was further in the Bamboo looking for the Owlet.

Surprising he sat there  holding his catch and carefully watching me. Typically it’s a grab and scram move.

There may have been something around he didn’t like. The Owl kept looking up and around.

Finally he flew up into the trees to eat. This one was not for his mate or the young Owlet.

The fly off shot was ‘trash’, and deleted. To get any light I was shooting slow. Losing the last shot was only a little frustrating. after all, it’s an Owl hunting.