Short-eared Owls - 03 Dec 2023

Up to 4 Short-eared Owls were found at the Antennae Farm in Monroe Co. yesterday morning. Because skies were dark, misty and foggy the owls were seen most of the day foraging along Haggerman Rd. east of Labo to US Turnpike. This morning I decided to try to see if any of the owls were still around.

At 7:30 am a dense fog blanketed the region as I arrived at Labo and Haggerman Rds. Haggerman was muddy but driveable, so I drove slowly and watched the fenceline around the Antennae Farm. A single Short-eared Owl was spotted perched atop the fence about midway along the south edge. Despite the dense fog I was able to focus the Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS and Sony a1 from inside the car. ISO was set to 25,600 as I knew that shutter speeds were going to be incredibly slow (1/100 sec at EFL~840 mm).

The owls posed for several minutes before flying just inside the fence and landing atop a plant stalk 20' away. I continued slowly eastward along Haggerman just past the fenceline when a second Short-eared Owl lifted off from the ditch to my left and landed a few feet away. I was able to drive up and photograph it from inside the car. Best pics came when I used my custom-hold button to get spot focus at ISO 6400.

The owl looked around for several minutes while I snapped away (silent shutter) before it flew off to forage over the field to the north. I continued down to US Turnpike and turned around to drive back. A third Short-eared Owl would be found on the south side of Haggerman (my left) and it appeared to be an adult female bird due to its browner cast.

It was a bit more skittish and flew across the road and back a couple of times before flying back to the east. I would run into Todd and Karen Palgut a few minutes later and then drive home by 8:15 am. 

Despite the dense fog and low light was impressed with how well I was able to recover detail using Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop CC. Whites were pushed, while Shadows / Blacks were nudged left, Highlights pushed left, Temperature nudged right (to warmer tones) and Denoise AI set to 50%. ISO 25,600 produced more keepers, but detail was lessened due to the increased noise. ISO 6400 produced very nice details with less noise. Bird Eye-AF did not work due to the low light (and high ISO's needed).

Antenna Farm, Monroe, Michigan, US
Dec 3, 2023 7:45 AM - 8:15 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, dense fog, drizzle, 40F.
2 species

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)  3     Up to 4 birds reported yesterday here. Three birds seen this morning; one on fence surrounding antennae farm, and two along Haggerman Rd. on either side of road. Photos.
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  36

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S155726721

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)