From Harold Wilion

Photography is like New England weather. If you don’t like the scene, wait a minute.

I was trying to photograph these newly fledged Great Horned owls for about an hour or so with no photos to show for it. Two were visible but they had their eyes closed and I didn’t like all the white sky behind them.

The third, this owl, was totally buried behind a curtain of spruce. So, I set up on the mom nearby waiting for her to wake so I could get some shots. Then, I heard one of the birders exclaim, “oh, look, the baby’s sticking its head out”.

I swung my camera around and sure enough, the owlet emerged a little from its hiding place allowing me to get this shot. He didn’t stay there for long, but at least I felt like I got a decent shot instead of just a wasted day. I didn’t even see all the berries around it till I looked at my photos later.

The moral of the story, have some patience and stick around. You never know what the next minute will bring.

Not totally sure this is the same owl, but this is from Dan Minicucci, who captioned this pic as " Homage to Harold’s red pine cone shot."

Who’s got the better shot? 🤔