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 .....
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
The big hork
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