Tag Archives: MN North: Amity

Owlets at the Movies!

Year 8,

Before YouTube … Before DVD Players … Before VCR’s … there was Saturday Night at the Movies on TV (video link for email subscribers)(subscribers may wish to view this post via their browser … easier with all the movies … (Follow this link)

However, please accept my apologies as War Wagon starring John Wayne (watch video opening) has been preempted by the owlets. Thus …

Owlets in this morning’s Snow Squall (video link for email subscribers)

Owl Family huddled against 20F degree night (video link for email subscribers)

During this morning’s snow squall …

The Brown Creepers are migrating through (some will stay local)(quickest way to know you are looking at a creeper vs a nuthatch … nuthatches walk down a tree trunk … creepers go up)

The male Belted Kingfishers are back and waiting for spouses!

A Tale of Two Sunsets

Year 8

Two nights ago the temperature fell to 20F. Last night the mercury only dropped to 47F. Guess which photo is which?! Both images were taken just a few minutes before sundown.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Owl Check-In / Digital Zoom Review

Year 8

Two nights ago I watched a few videos on YouTube about “clear image zoom” (digital zoom) on the Sony Alpha E-Mount cameras. Even if you do “not” have a Sony camera, this discussion on optical vs. digital review is relevant. Normally I never use digital zoom on any of my cameras. I have found the quality of the image suffers, and I lose the flexibility of minor cropping to enhance the artistic end result of my photos (cropping of digitally zoomed images always yields poor results in my opinion). While I recognize digital zoom increases a camera’s reach, the optics involved never change.

Yesterday the sun finally came out in the late afternoon after a several day absence. All three Great Horned Owlets had been hunkered down in the nest trying to stay warm (snow was also in the air during the past few days). Anyhow once the sun came out, so did the owls.

In addition to the images shown below, should you wish to do a detailed review on my test, I have provided a link to higher resolution files. I wanted folks to see that digital zoom yields no benefits for my Sony A6300 (took these photos), and with my Canon SX-70 using digital zoom the quality actually suffers significantly.

Original Image (Sony A6300 with 350mm lens) (high-res link)

1.5x Digital Clear Image Review (Sony’s term) (high-res link)

Cropped photo of original photo to yield similar result to zoomed image (high-res link)

Just before the sun came out and I was presented with a blue sky background. I love the lower owlet’s expression! This is the same branch just from a different vantage point as the images given above.