One of my Wife's

[Clark]

Couple of Saturdays ago, I left at 5am to go birding in northeast New Jersey. Spent all day out and about.
Extremely unproductive. So the next week, my wife thought she would show me up. And says to me " Do you want to go see some owls?''

First time she had a lead for birds. First time I had to drive through New York City for birding.

I have shown Burrowing Owls from Cape Coral, Snowy Owls from Island Beach State Park and Merrill Creek Reservoir.
The next photo is all my wife. And it is the first time we have seen Great Horned Owls.





Bubo virginianus (chick)





We were able to view three chicks and one adult at Croton Point State Park along the Hudson. Through the bins,
one could see the adult feeding a chick that had fledged the nest. They were several hundred yards from the siblings and not photogenic with all the trees.
Great day out. On the way back home we stopped at the Palisades Cliffs for Peregrines.
My wife seen them. I was in no mood to look over the edge..............


Thank you for your time

 

[Cat]

omg!! So cute! :smitten:

 

[Clark]

If one was to google "peregrine falcon" right now, the Wiki box on the right has the mass of the bird at 730-2200lbs.
Bigbird.

 

[Clark]

Thank you Cat.

 

[Erythrone]

Cutie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NYEric]

Cool, some really scenic towns along the Hudson from there to Beacon. Thanks for sharing.

 

[abax]

Love that chick photo. Come to KY. We have a Great
Horned Owl that perches on our roof and HOOTS and often
dispatches his prey on our roof. Kinda spooky really.

 

[SlipperFan]

Those eyes...!

 

[Migrant13]

A cute bundle for sure. Great photo!

 

[MaryPientka]

Great shot!

 

[abax]

The chick is cute, but don't forget that owls are very
deadly predators with silent wings and enormous talons.
Also the Great Horned is LOUD in the middle of the night...
pop your butt right outta bed!

 

[JeanLux]

Cool Photo!!!! Jean

 

[Clark]

Thanks everyone, Christine appreciates the comments.

Those eyes...!

I know you know that I doctored up the eyes.

Between you and me Dot, that whole area around the eyes got maximum shadow recovery in Adobe camera raw.
Then I saturated the yellow in the eye. Then choose favorable color in eye and used clone to make em pop a bit.

Dot, you see right through me.

 

[SlipperFan]

Well, effective use of Photoshop, I'd say!

 

[troy]

very awesome!!!

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Nothing worse than a black eye. Nice pic, wouldn't have imagined the photomagic.

Hey, you guys were a stone's throw from where I grew up (and threw up a few times). I spent many a summer on the Croton River fishing for striped bass and trying to spear (yes, spear) overgrown carp in the shallows of the Hudson near Croton Point. Back in those days there was an active land fill on the point that put off quite a stench if the wind was wrong (not why I threw up, that was due to keg parties on the beach).

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

If one was to google "peregrine falcon" right now, the Wiki box on the right has the mass of the bird at 730-2200lbs.
Bigbird.

I just looked. Still says "Mass: 330 – 1,000 kg (Adult, Male)" - WOW! And considering how fast they can fly, that is one scary bird. A velociraptor with wings :rollhappy: