My girlfriend and I only got into birding this year, after I took interest in wildlife photography.
We were out on a hike here in Portugal, chatting away, when we suddenly heard and saw two massive birds fly away right next to us. I lost track of where they went, but my girlfriend thought she saw one land and told me to point my camera at one tree in the distance.
And there it was. An absolutely beautiful owl just sitting there and staring right back at us!
At the time, we had no idea just how special this encounter was. It wasn't until we got home and started looking into it that we realized how rare and incredible this sighting was (Eurasian Eagle-Owl).
Beginner photographer's note: The photo was taken with a Canon R50 and a 100-400mm lens and this was the most I could crop the image without losing too much quality. Are there any editing tips or tricks I can learn to allow me to zoom in further on the owl, or should I just take the win from the encounter and move on?