Photographer Scott Dere was out photographing owls when one unexpectedly landed on his camera, blending in strangely well with the camouflaged camera lens.
“In a minute or two, I found one perched and wolf-whistled to the three others,” said Dere.
“It was an incredible moment when the owl decided to land on my head! It sent tingles down my spine for hours.
“After a moment, the owl repositioned on my lens, and I was able to pivot it slightly to pose for an image. Thankfully Beau has the reflexes and sense to take the photograph that I will cherish forever.”
Dere set out that day to photograph some great grey owls and, along the way, teamed up with three other photographers, they were Beaumon Day and Olympus Explorer Brooke Bartleson.
After this, the owl landed on Brooke’s head, startling her.
Beau said that the owl seemed like it was hunting. It would look to the ground as if it was trying to find a small rodent or something else to eat, or it would not move at all for a bit before it decided to join the crew.
They spent another hour with the bird, watching it fly all around, trying to find some game and also landing on Brooke’s head who then collapsed to the ground in amazement.
“The owl was young, juvenile—you can tell by certain features on the owl, like the tail feathers, for example.
I think, one, this young owl was just curious about these strange visitors in his neck of the woods and wanted to check us out. And two, he wasn’t threatened by us.
“I have had some awesome encounters with wildlife and sometimes you can just sense that they are comfortable and at ease with your presence and you kind of share a connection for that time you’re with them.”
The whole photoshoot actually lasted about an hour with the owl doing a lot of fly-bys whilst hunting.
Owls are nocturnal, plus their camouflage is great, which means getting a chance to photograph an owl like this is truly rare.
Scott Dere, the guy posing in the photo lens pic, ended up posting the pic on socials where it went viral immediately.
