Great Grey Owl — Close Encounter
On my final day photographing owls around Calgary, a chance sighting from the car developed into one of the most incredible wildlife encounters I’ve ever experienced.
It was my final day photographing Owls with Ken Anderson during a winter photography trip to Calgary. We were driving through an area where we’d already encountered Great Grey Owls earlier in the week when I spotted one sitting beside the road.
We quickly pulled over off the road and got out of the car; but by the time we did the owl had disappeared.
Knowing it couldn’t have gone far, I started scanning the surrounding trees and soon spotted it again, perched just behind the fence I was standing beside.
We stayed where we were and watched, photographing the owl and waiting to see what it would do next.
Eventually it took flight, gliding through the trees in front of us.
At this point Ken had the foresight to kindly go back to the car and grab my monopod. That turned out to be a very good decision.!
I attached my camera just in time for the owl to fly down and land on the fence post directly in front of me.
Getting closer
I was photographing with my Nikon Z9 and 400mm f/2.8 TC lens. The owl was now only a few metres away and almost filling the frame.
Even at that distance, it clearly wasn’t finished. In complete contrast to the owls I photograph in the UK, which will generally keep their distance from people, this owl seemed completely unfazed by my presence.
Without warning, the owl launched from the post and dropped into the snow almost at my feet.
I could hardly believe how close it was at this point. It must have been right on the limit of the minimum focusing distance of the 400mm lens; I just froze so as not to disturb the owl but also fixated on my viewfinder so I didnt miss any of the action unfolding in front of me.
This was where Ken fetching the monopod made all the difference. I was able to keep the camera steady, maintain focus and follow the owl despite it only just fitting within the frame.
Then it lifted its head.
It had caught a vole.
The catch
I kept the focus locked on the owl and my finger on the shutter, photographing the sequence as it secured the vole beneath it and eventually lifted the prey from the ground.
For a few moments the owl remained incredibly close, looking around with the vole before eventually getting up and flying back towards the trees.
It was mating season, and Ken believed the behaviour suggested this male could have been taking food back to a prospective mate — potentially even a female already sitting on a nest.
And then it was over.
One of those moments
I’ve had some extraordinary encounters while photographing wildlife, but this remains one of the most incredible and almost unbelievable.
Once the owl had gone, the adrenaline really hit me. I had the shakes.
Later that day Ken dropped me at the airport for my flight home. All I could think about was getting back, loading the images onto my computer and finding out whether I’d actually managed to capture what I’d just witnessed.
With the owl so close, everything happening so quickly and virtually no room in the frame, I genuinely didn’t know what I would find.
When I finally reviewed the photographs, I wasn’t disappointed.
The result was better than I could have imagined.
Explore more of my photography
See more photographs from my encounters with Great Grey Owls and other owl species.