The big hork

[Dan Busby]

Another shot from my time with this Great Gray Owl a few weeks ago in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. This owl had been hunting and eating small rodents for hours. The way owls get rid of the bones from its prey is to collect them into a "pouch" and eject them out of their digestive tract as a "pellet". I saw this bird starting to heave and knew this was coming. When the bird does this the bright yellow eyes get covered over by the nictitating membrane, hence the bluish cast to the eyes.

Canon Mark IV, 500mm f/4L II, ISO:800, f/5.6@1/400, EC: -0.3, AP, One Shot AF, evaluative metering. Gitzo 3530, leveling head, Jobu HD2. 10% crop. All c&C welcomes and appreciated. I wondered about leaving the spider webs .....

[Jim Crosswell]

Great behaviour image Dan! I like the perch, sharpness, timing, spider webs and BG. I would tone down the bright spot at the bottom right side of the perch. Spider webs add interest.

[Randy Stout]

Dan:

A very impressive pellet! I am used to the petite pellets from burrowing owls.

Interesting observation about the nictitating membrane being closed during this act.

Cheers

Randy

[Jamie Douglas]

Great image Dan documenting interesting behaviour.

Jim makes an good comment about toning down the bright spot but it wasn't an immediate distraction by any means.

Jamie

[David Salem]

Cool shot of an owl "Casting". The every morning ritual for almost all raptors of expelling the feathers, fur and bones of there meal the day before. The scene is nice and the owl is exposed well. Nice work.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, very well timed to capture the ejecting moment. Ive captured the same behaviour with kingfishers. I like the overall comp, good to see the open mouth, and you have brought out good detail on the owl. Cool BG, and the spider web does add that something extra.

[Marina Scarr]

Dan, this is quite an impressive capture and not an easy one to time correctly. It's nice to know that you understand the owls' behavior and have the patience to wait for that decisive moment. Love the touch of the spider webs!

[Ivan Ellison]

A perfect shot, great moment to capture, lovely exposure, sharpness spot on. Leave the spiders web alone it adds to the feel of the wilderness they live in.

[Melissa Groo]

What an awesome moment captured, Dan. Fascinating to see. And interesting to learn from David that it's called "casting."

[Karl Egressy]

Nice behavior moment captured, Dan. I like everything about this picture, I wish I had been there. (I was but earlier)