Transition from Twilight - Barn Owl

Although the dawn is beginning, this Barn Owl is calling it a night. Having caught it's fill of prey it is ready to retire through the encroaching daylight hours. The early morning mist  not only offers a vague contrast from the flooded timbers, but the imagined and real plethora of nocturnal possibilities this raptor of the evening may have encountered throughout the night. This was the most ethereal atmosphere I could compose. Was quite pleased with the depth of field it created in such a small space as well.

I have seen Barn Owls in the wild but have yet to manage a photograph with enough quality or detail to use one as reference for a painting. This particular owl was an "Ambassador Bird" from a raptor rescue center in Lansing, MI. I was one of the exhibiting artists at the "Northern Wildlife Art Exhibition" there, where I was lucky to get so much reference material and time with this exquisite specimen.
The background was a much more recent photo I took in the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula not too far from my current studio. Although technically we're north of this global raptor's North American range, this scene could easily and accurately represent some of the many haunts where this Barn Owl would embark upon it's "Transition from Twilight."