GREAT BLUE OWL

Title: BLUE BOY
Species: Great Blue Owl (Strix cyanea marianiae)
Photographer: James McIntyre
Location: Yellowstone National Park, WY
Date: September, 2003
Equipment: Canon EOS-1VHS; EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM + 2.0x I TE; Gitzo 1548 + Wimberley Head
Spot Metering: 0
Film: Fuji Provia 100F
Scanner: Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED with LaserSoft SilverFast Ai Software v6.0.1r28 (IT8 calibrated)

While photographing in Yellowstone National Park last September, our group was fortunate enough to encounter this very large owl about 5 p.m. It was perched in shade on a low branch at the edge of a clearing in a mixed aspen-conifer forest. At first we thought this bird was a Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa), the largest of all North American owls. I began to shoot in the dim light with evaluative metering at +2/3, but realized this involved too much uncertainty, as the light patches in the background could easily trick the camera meter. Use of fill flash was out of the question, so I switched to spot metering.

Even so, after my developed slides were returned, I noted that the owl was underexposed and had a blue cast. Film reciprocity failure perhaps? Not so, say I. As I lightened the image in Photoshop by applying screen layers, the owl became bluer and bluer, while the background and perch remained neutral. This leads me to conclude that this owl is a new, previously undiscovered North American raptor species, which I shall call GREAT BLUE OWL. I will suggest that its scientific name be Strix cyanea marianiae after its discoverer, renowned wildlife photographer Mary Ann McDonald.

This beautiful bird, whom I have nicknamed BLUE BOY, would surely be a wonderful holiday ornament. But beware, he eats computer mice!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

Jim