Next I went to where I use to live, to the Northern California Coast, in Sonoma County, a place where most commercials are filmed, very beautiful area, mostly state parks, and private timber lands, its always the good places that are taken up by the rich, or by the government ! My other hobby, besides old reels, is wildlife photography, been doing it for around 12 years ! So my first day I went out to my favorite spot, along the coast, got there around 6:00 am it was very foggy, and wet ( normal for there ! ) I saw some deer, no horns ! some wild pigs, hawks, and wild turkeys. then I went and hiked ( I should say hobbled, bad knees, and back ! you know the feeling when you get older ! ) up into a vast hilly area, where I have seen many critters before, right away something flew over my head, a Barn Owl, I have taken pics of Great Horned, and Burrowing owls before, but never a Barn Owl ! like I said, it was very foggy, and wet, so raised up my camera ! (I use Canon's, I have a 12 and a 15 MP, and I use an old beater 50 to 500 mm lens, most of the paint is wore off ! ) so I took a couple quick shots, and he flew off into the fog, looked at the pics, and they were lousy ! felt very bad
I continued on, and then saw some more, but just to far off ! Next morning I was right back at that same spot, saw a couple of bucks, tried chasing after them, and took a spill, broke my good camera, hurt myself pretty good ! ( really did not feel the pain until I got home ! ) so had to go back a grab another camera, went back a saw a few more owls, but no good pics, next day I had a new plan, and took a different route ! saw 7 more Barn Owls, all hunting for rodents, got some good close ups, I mean good for me ! next day saw 10 more, next saw 12, and my last day, I took my buddy with me, he counted 10, and I counted 14 ! as I walked I saw many field mice, and some larger ones, what ever they were. One pic I took shows a gopher in ones talons, lots of rodents, lots of owls ! I noticed that on the field mice they swallow them immediately, and larger rodents they take to a secluded spot, ( we saw some Northern Harriers, or Marsh Hawks trying to take away the owls catch ! very cool to watch ! ) and break them up into smaller pieces to swallow, owls do not drink water, they rely on their prey for liquid. After a while, they regurgitate, a large pellet, or the right term is a cast, as in cast a way ! they are of all the hair, fur, and bones of their prey! some are the size of small chicken egg ! To find owls, you look for these under a tree, or on a barn floor, if one has a floor ? so I got some, to me Great Pics, but by no means, any calender photos. The first 3 pics are of an owl coming in for a landing, I got some good stills, but most are just fly by's, I got a pic of a wild turkey, beautiful colors, but those heads are something else ! and a pic of some wild pigs ! I hope you enjoy !I have a website of old reels, and my wildlife photos, check it out, you can navigate around to look at either old reels, or the wildlife pics ! here is that link ! Feel free to print anything, if you like, or I can help you ?
http://robertsreelsandwildlifephotos.we ... index.html
Member Nello Armstrong, a professional photographer ! just sent me this photo shopped version, interesting !
My Pal Daryl only a 100 ft. away !
Had to throw in some Yosemite pics also !
next day I went out a bought a $400.00 Diamond Back, I think ? went to the park, and there was a big sign NO BIKES ON TRAILS, they were scaring the hikers, and the horses on the trail rides, man was I mad 
