Bring it up!!!!

[Steve Kaluski]

Another Spotted owl from India, who was quite shy and so you had to wait a period of time and be very quiet before he/she would pop their head up. Taken in a small glad along one of the routes in the reserve.

The top RHC is not ideal, but nothing you could have done and you cannot go off road, not even with our vehicle and senior park officials to get a better angle. As usual the AFMA could have still done with a tweak more, but hard always to assess in the field, but all sorted after I got back. However, what was nice was that this owl decided to regurgitate an owl pellet when he/she popped their head up.

If it was the 1DX MKII I would easily have gone to ISO6400 no question to gain more slightly more DoF, although having the pellet with some motion I feel adds to the capture.


Thanks to those who posted or viewed on the last posting.

Steve

Subject: Spotted owl (Athene brama)
Location: India
Camera: Canon 5D MKIV
Lens: 500f/4 MKII with 1.4MKIII HH
Exposure: 1/400s at f/5.6 ISO3200
Original format: Portrait, very slight crop.
Processed via: LRCC & PS2020

[Steve Kaluski]

Here is a sequence of the event.

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

A fun one. Really like the nest/trunk shape, frames the head nicely. Soft light with equally soft shadows works well. I don't find the RUC bothersome, the owl and trunk keep our attention centrally. The shutter speed def. gives a sense of motion to the pellet. I like both the main post and your third image in the series, the owl looks glad to be rid of the pellet!

Cheers

Randy

[Gabriela Plesea]

Good afternoon Steve,

I see you've had some wonderful opportunities in India - and not just wildlife, avian too

Patience paid off in this instance and you were rewarded with a number of images, I enjoyed viewing the OP as well as sequence where you captured an interesting behavioural aspect of this little owl.

This is a well composed and well exposed frame and I love the colours, they look very natural. Expression from this little one makes me smile

Beautiful detail and sharpness where it matters most, to me DoF is sufficient, and yes the pellet 'blur' brings a nice visual effect.

Enjoyed viewing, very much, thank you for sharing:)

PS Just a question, did you think the subject here was as cute as our feathered friend in the "North" ?

Warmest regards,

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Steve, love the little owl and the hole in the tree. The owl pellet adds interest. I wonder if it was a fecal sac from young in the crevice, I have seen Pileated Woodpeckers clean out the nest carrying the fecal sacs away. Judging from your camera setting it must have been quite dark. Thank you for sharing.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Steve, this is awesome. The pellet really adds to the story and the comp works well. The details are good on the head and the DOF is good enough. Nice one. Owls are such great subjects!

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks.

A fun one.

Occasionally it's nice to break away from the norm Randy, having fun is what it's all about.

PS Just a question, did you think the subject here was as cute as our feathered friend in the "North" ?

All Wols are cute Gabriela and if you ever get a chance to hold one, you will easily see how much the feathers make it look so much bigger, your hands just disappear into the fluffy down.

Owls are such great subjects!

Very cool indeed Sanjeev,

[Steve Kaluski]

I wonder if it was a fecal sac from young in the crevice

More likely to be small bones and skulls Joe, the ones I have found tended to be more lonzege shaped. If you then soak it in a small dish of water it all breaks down to reveal what the subject has been feeding on.

[Joseph Przybyla]

More likely to be small bones and skulls Joe, the ones I have found tended to be more lonzege shaped. If you then soak it in a small dish of water it all breaks down to reveal what the subject has been feeding on.

Thanks Steve.

[John Mack]

Boy that owl doesn't look to good. Hopefully it felt better afterwards. Detail is nice. Like the opening it is hanging out in.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Boy that owl doesn't look to good. Hopefully it felt better afterwards. Detail is nice. Like the opening it is hanging out in.

John, this little owl felt very good afterwards, and in fact he (or she), after getting rid of this pellet, was ready to eat again!

An owl has two stomachs, one of them is called a 'glandular stomach' and its role is to separate the digestible bits of prey from the indigestible ones. The indigestible parts being fur from mice, bones, an insect's wings or exoskeleton, etc.

Should you ever decide to 'investigate' perhaps it would be good to use gloves when handling the pellet - it might contain bacteria or parasites

Kind regards,