If you photograph birds, or have thought about photographing birds, let me suggest you target owls. Overall, birds aren’t licensed that often, etc. However, owls do much better than most other birds.

There are some difficulties in photographing owls however. They camouflage themselves very well, thus just finding them can be quite the challenge. Secondly, many are also wary of people and will not allow close approach. Some owls will allow freakishly close approach.

My suggested solution to these issues is to seek help when possible. When I photographed Spotted Owls for instance, I tagged along with some researchers while they were in the field. The Great Grey owls I got tips on where to look from some forest service people. Then a few of the owls here in the slideshow were rehab birds with educational institutions. Then there were a few that I photographed completely on my own. I once actually wrote an article for Nature Photographer where I discussed how to photograph a specific species you might need for some use. This article concentrated on getting help from researchers, etc., to get the shots and explained how I photographed Spotted Owls, Snowy Plovers, and Greater Sage Grouse.

I haven’t photographed owls for awhile, based on these difficulties and that I haven’t been photographing many birds. Right now I’m pretty excited that soon I will be visiting a friend to photograph the gathering of Sno