I was feeling successful and satisfied from my morning shooting birds in Discovery Park. Little did I expect, as I trundled down Kansas Avenue towards the comforts of home, to get a close and straight view of this barred owl. I quickly reset my camera and monopod and began clicking away.
I have to confess that I was hoping for just such an opportunity. The day prior I had a moment with an owl a short ways up that road, the crunch of leaves under my feet possibly scaring off the squirrel that was to become its lunch. That day I only had my cell phone on me then, but now I was prepared with my camera and big lens. Was this the same owl? Was it the owl that had been stealing hats earlier that week? Barred owls are territorial, as well as invasive in the Pacific Northwest, so probably definitely maybe yes?
The owl kept an eye on me while I patiently watched through my lens. From about 30 yards away, they were aware of me but indifferent, occasionally preening to show how casually unimpressed they were. Who knew owls were akin to human teenagers?
Bonus birb! As I was settling in to my session with the owl, a woman passed by and asked if I was photographing birds. Keeping my voice low to avoid disturbing the owl, I confirmed and pointed out my subject. Her face twisted in an odd combination of delight and deflation, as I my sighting had bested the advice she was bringing of a pileated woodpecker around the corner. After my photo shoot with the owl, I headed down and indeed found the woodpecker making quite the mess out of some poor tree's bark.
The light at both of these stops was under the shade of the forest, so despite it being a relatively clear and warm day I was shooting at my camera's highest ISO, and even that was a struggle to get decent exposure. I normally lock the shutter speed at 1/1000 when shooting birds (or 1/2000 if the birds are in full sun) so I can freeze them if they fly, but the struggle to get enough light bore some creative inspiration. I spun the shutter speed dial the opposite way to create intentional blur as the woodpecker hammered its head against the tree.
Side note on high ISO: in most of my bird photos lately I've been enabling Lightroom's AI-powered Denoise feature. It's good. Like, really, really good. Even at high ISOs it has been obliterating all of the sensor noise without significantly impacting detail. I've been reducing the effect by about a third, as I do like a little bit of noise akin to film grain.
September 5, 2025 | Fujifilm X-T5 + Fujinon 150-600 f5.6-8
