Flight of a Great Horned Owl

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

SeilerBird

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Posts
18,234
Location
St Cloud Florida USA
I spent six months planning my trip to Disney World. There are four lands there, Magic Kingdom (Disneyland east), Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Can you guess which one I went to on the first day? Yep, Animal Kingdom. And the first thing I did when I got there was head straight for the Flights of Wonder bird show (duh...). I was not disappointed. At one point during the show they asked for two volunteers with cameras. I did not volunteer. They put the two people on a bench on stage and had a Great Horned Owl fly straight at them and then at the last second lean back and land on a log located directly over the volunteers head.

Well a few days later I took my 10 frames per second a55 with my 8mm wide angle fisheye attached to the show. I went on a Thursday morning to the first show figuring the theater would be half empty, and it was. I sat near the front and when they asked for volunteers I raised my hand high and enthusiastically. Guano Joe picked me. I did make a small mistake. On the way up to the stage I got to the steps before the other lady and being a gentleman I let her go up the steps first. I should have gone first, I would have had the better seat. The owl flew over her head just to the right of me.

Now here I am on stage in a theater filled with people, I have an giant owl flying directly at me and I only have one chance to get this right. No pressure at all. It is very difficult to judge just how close this owl was to me. The 8mm lens makes every thing appear further away than it really is. I felt his wing lightly touch my hair as he went by. And his flight was silent.
 

Attachments

  • Owl-2.jpg
    Owl-2.jpg
    149.6 KB · Views: 78
  • Owl-3.jpg
    Owl-3.jpg
    138.7 KB · Views: 63
  • Owl-4.jpg
    Owl-4.jpg
    164.7 KB · Views: 64
  • Owl-5.jpg
    Owl-5.jpg
    146.8 KB · Views: 61
  • Owl-6.jpg
    Owl-6.jpg
    146.4 KB · Views: 69
  • Owl-7.jpg
    Owl-7.jpg
    148.9 KB · Views: 65
  • Owl-8.jpg
    Owl-8.jpg
    150.5 KB · Views: 66
  • Owl-9.jpg
    Owl-9.jpg
    151.9 KB · Views: 72
I've never see na trained owl.  Great shots and quite an experience.  You've certainly made good use of your tme there but don't foget Wet 'n Wild.  The most amazing water park anywhere and just up the road from you.  And filled with millions of screaming kids.  The wave pool is quite interesting. 
 
COMer said:
I've never see na trained owl.  Great shots and quite an experience.  You've certainly made good use of your tme there but don't foget Wet 'n Wild.  The most amazing water park anywhere and just up the road from you.  And filled with millions of screaming kids.  The wave pool is quite interesting.
I probably won't be going to any water parks. They are frustrating for me. You see I wear contacts and so to go to a water park I must remove my contacts. Without my contacts on I am blind as a bat. 20/200 in one eye and 20/400 in the other. It is extremely frustrating to be surrounded by thousands of beautiful almost naked young women and not be able to see anything.  :'(
 
Tom, you're having quite a year photography-wise!  ::)  They're neat photos.  Glad you're enjoying DisneyWorld.

ArdraF
 
Thank you Ardra, you are correct, photography wise things are going well this year. Today I actually made one of the coolest videos I have ever made. I plan on posting it as soon as I recover. Non stop Disney is starting to wear me down. I am not as young as I used to be. My mind and heart say go, my body says "You've got to be kidding me..."
 
I am not as young as I used to be. My mind and heart say go, my body says "You've got to be kidding me..."

Cute!  And, of so true.  A lot of us have empathy!

ArdraF
 
Tom,

Great shots of the owl.  We've been to that show several times but I've never tried volunteering for that segment.  When we go back later this year I think I'll try your strategy and go to the first show.

BTW my uncorrected vision is the same as yours.  I know what it's like without glasses.  I once spent an hour looking for my wife and daughter when we got separated at Disney's first water park, River Country.
 
ceemike said:
Great shots of the owl.  We've been to that show several times but I've never tried volunteering for that segment.  When we go back later this year I think I'll try your strategy and go to the first show.
Go for it! It was one of the highlights of my trip.
BTW my uncorrected vision is the same as yours.  I know what it's like without glasses.  I once spent an hour looking for my wife and daughter when we got separated at Disney's first water park, River Country.
Whenever I go for a new pair of contacts they make me remove mine old ones and then they give me a vision test. The doctor says "Read the fourth line of the chart." I always reply "What chart?" Seriously.
 
Mike - One thing I forgot to mention is that there are about 6 shows a day. My plan was to keep going to every show until I got picked. Fortunately I got picked for the first show. If you get picked do everything you can to get up on stage first so you get the left hand (as you are looking at the stage from the audience) seat.
 
Back
Top Bottom