Planetary Hoo’s Hoo
On the evening of March 2, 2019, I went outside to try to photograph Mercury, low in the western sky. While I stood considering issues of exposure and framing, I noticed a large bird settling in a treetop a couple of hundred metres away. I suspected it was a hawk, but used my camera zoom to get a better view, and was surprised to see the bird had “ears”. It was a Great Horned Owl! I wasn’t able to get closer, but did find a position where Mercury and the night-bird could be captured in the same frame.
1/6 sec at f2.8, ISO 400, Panasonic Lumix FZ-300. Gamma slightly increased to lighten sky.
