Raptors In Flight: Striking Portraits by Mark Harvey
“Barn Owl”
“Eagle Owl”
“Harris Hawk”
Shot with his signature style that applies a hearty dose of drama to the already striking creatures, the photos are shot one at a time in a slow, medium format. “Lighting is a key aspect of my work to help draw out fresh views of well-known subjects, and these birds are no exception, set within an intricate lighting setup to ultimately show the birds in a new light,” Harvey shares. “With their wings spread wide, these top avian predators’ beauty is put on full display.”
Harvey just released 15 limited-edition prints of each subject in his shop, https://shop.mark-harvey.com/ and you can follow his photography practice, which often focuses on horses and dogs, on Instagram.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Excerpt:
Ultraviolet (UV)
Perhaps the most remarkable refinement to avian vision, in general, and raptors, in particular, is the ability to see in the ultraviolet (UV) light range. For raptors, who prey on rodents like voles and mice, this ability gives them a distinctive edge when hunting. Specifically, rodents, like many other species, use scent as a communication mechanism; marking territories, mating etc. Therefore, in these species, long scent trails become obvious markers of where the animal has been.
For a long time, researchers were aware that scent marks of small rodents become visible when scent markings absorb part of the UV radiation present in sunlight, and then reemit the absorbed energy as visible light; the process of fluorescence. However, a recent finding shows that scent marks left by voles (who urinate almost continuously), are also detectable by kestrels from reflectedUV light (3). The figure below shows that the same markings are much more prominent in the UV, than they are in the visible(4).
https://moremesa.org/raptor-vision/
I'm having a harder and harder time reading highway traffic signs from a distance! My rodent hunting days are over!
Just curious. You might have switched sides.
Don't want you to be targeted by owls.
my pee breaks are still within control and deposited in their intended destination. I'll settle for that much, I guess!
No one wants to sit on a soggy couch, if you catch my dribble...er....drift.
