May 23, 2011
Great Horned Owl at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona

One of the funnest times to photograph at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona, is during the raptor free flight demonstrations. The demonstration in the morning usually features Chihuahuan ravens, barn owls, great horned owls, ferruginous hawks, gray hawks, prairie falcons, or greater roadrunners, and the demonstration in the afternoon features a family of Harris' hawks. The demonstration is given among the native flora and provides a nice environment for photography. One of my favorite images from a morning free flight demonstration is of a great horned owl perched and backlit, and I particularly like the way its feathers hide its jesses so there's no visible hand of man.