Camouflaged Barred Owl – White Rock Lake

One of my favorite Barred Owl images taken at White Rock Lake as I’ve always wanted a taste of a classic camouflaged owl blend in the environment.

Young but already a master of disguise, this is the elder of a trio of fledged barred owls perched on a large tree trunk under a dense canopy. I’ve seen the parent caught mice, insects and squirrel on the same spot to feed the owlets. The youngsters watched and learned the hunting craft their parent pass on.

The brown barring on the upper breast, streaking on the lower breast and belly present on the young owl are well defined; but blend well in the environment thanks to surrounding tree barks that looks nearly identical in both body color and texture.

This image captured after dusk in late Jun, it was dark and focus was achieved manually as my equipment could not obtain Auto Focus in the absence of light. At 1/6 of a second, i kept the shutter going while hold my setup firmly with both hands pressing the len down and against my face; then pray the youngster stood still….

It did!