This is a pygmy owl I found perched on a low branch behind my hotel in Patagonia. What surprised me was the bird allowed such a close approach. I was probably 30 feet away, standing in the open with a Canon 500mm f/4 telephoto. I took several images, and then the owl swooped down into the grass between us and grabbed a mouse. It was so focused on its prey, which I didn't see at all, that it didn't even worry about my presence. In retrospect, the intensity of the owl's stare made perfect sense. My settings for this uncropped image were 1/320, f/6.3, and 200 ISO.
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