ID#001
I had been searching for spotted owls all spring, and found a few, but one family stood out to me. After spending some time with the parents and their two chicks I noticed that they still actively used a burn area in their territory for hunting and roosting. On more than one occasion I found the owls in burnt trees and was inspired to make this image of a juvenile perched atop a scorched tree with a larger burnt tree as the background. As a biologist, this photo means more to me than most of my photos, since it serves as supplemental proof that these rare and threatened old growth specialists can still survive in areas burned with a lower severity of forest fire; and thus provides some hope for the species in the changing landscape of California