Sunday, February 8, 2009



Of a barred owl. Sadly, one of these big black eyes is non-functional. This bird is a permanent resident at the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. The refuge takes injured birds, nurses them bag to health, and when they can releases them back to the wild. And when they can they put the birds to work, as traveling ambassadors of nature. I photographed this bird at the Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival, an annual event held in February. More on this event in a future post.

This is actually a double portrait. If you enlarge the image enough, you can actually see me in the bird's eyes, although it's a rather poor likeness.

8 comments:

Chesney said...

What an amazing image, looks like he is really checking you out - love the reflection in his eyes as well. Really nice job on this one!

Ron a.k.a. Danudin said...

Anything that gives the bird a chance to keep going and us a chance to see it close is good.

Anonymous said...

He's beautiful. We have the Raptor Trust that does the same thing for raptors. It's an amazing place to visit.

John said...

There is something about owls. Huge eyes with feathers.

BobbieCoughlin said...

What a great portrait! I felt like I could look into the owl's eyes and interact with its obvious intelligence.

Anonymous said...

A beautiful portrait! He looks like he's trying to read your mind.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful bird! You've got a lot of detail in this shot - I like the little feathers sticking out from the sides of his/her head.

Anonymous said...

It does look to be trying to figure you out. Great detail.