Recently, I learned there is a Great Horned Owl and her chic at Dawson Creek Park. Since we are in Beaverton, I felt the opportunity should be looked into.
I arrived at the Library and wandered out in to the park. It was my first time to visit and I was surprised at what I found. The park is very much a grassy lawn area with a few ponds and trees. It is not where I would normally expect to find a lot of birds. However, there were some very large flocks of Canada Geese, several Bufflehead, American Widgeon, Mallard and even those little beauties, Wood Duck.
Locating the Owl was rather easy. I wandered the path for a couple minutes until I saw several people with big lenses pointing up into a tree. It was equally easy to see that, while cute and interesting to see, the Owl was not going to be a photographic opportunity. The other photographers must have felt otherwise as they continued to shoot. I walked on.
I took the opportunity to shoot a few images of the Canada Geese. There were a nice mix of Canada and Cackling present.
Next I ran into a Black Eyed Junco feeding in the grass very near me. I lay down to take advantage of the opportunity and got a couple good shots before moving on.
As I continued my walk I ran into several people who were carrying cameras and binoculars, obviously also looking for the owls. One gentleman approached and asked if I had seen them. We had a pleasant discussion about the opportunity or lack there of. As we spoke I caught sight of a bird flying in and hitting a tree very near. Interrupting him, I quickly pointed out what I had seen and we turned our attention to the tree to see what came around. It was a Red Breasted Sapsucker.
We both had about 30 seconds of shooting as the bird continued around the trunk of the tree and then flew. It returned quickly and we had another 30 seconds to get a few more shots.
Eventually I made it back to the pickup and headed home. I had spent a little over and hour chasing an opportunity of an owl but gotten many more opportunities that were unexpected. It was a great outing.
Happy Shooting
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