May 20, 2011
Western Screech-Owl at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona, is a wonderful place to photograph captive wildlife that is native to the desert southwest, and in particular the Sonoran desert. Most of the enclosures are conducive to photography, and throughout the day docents handle raptors outside of their enclosures which provides a fantastic opportunity to make portraits. A docent had a small western screech-owl out one morning with nice light and a good background. By using a 500 f4 with a 1.4x tele-extender, the owl really stands out from the background. The 1.4x tele-extender was used to get a larger image of the owl while working near the minimum-focus distance of the 500 f4.