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Great Gray Owl


Great Gray Owl
Photo Information
Copyright: Helene Provencher (chouette) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 302 W: 0 N: 843] (3000)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-03-20
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel, Canon EF 75-300mm USM III
Details: Tripod: Yes
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-02-01 22:22
Viewed: 1542
Favorites: 2 [view]
Points: 42
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note

My favorite bird! Great Gray Owl waiting for a prey.
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Great Gray Owl - Strix nebulosa

Description: One of the World's largest Owls, the Great Gray Owl is dark grey overall interspersed with bars and flecks of light grey and white. When perched, they appear very bulky because of their dense, fluffy plumage, long wings extending past the body, a relatively long tail, and a large head. The size of the head, and the prominent facial disk make the yellow eyes appear small. A noticeable white "moustache" strip is under the facial disk, broken by a black "bow-tie". The feet are heavily feathered and remain hidden from view.

Size: Length 61-84cm (24-33")
Wingspan up to 152cm (60") average 140cm (55")
Weight: 790-1454g (28-51oz)

Habits: These Owls are active at night, but also at dusk and just before dawn. They may also be active durin the day during breeding season. They fly with soft, slow wingbeats and generally do not often move more than short distances between perches and seldom glides. They fly close to the ground, usually less than 6 metres (20 feet) up, except when flying to a nest. May be very aggressive near the nest. The Great Gray Owl thermoregulates by roosting in dense cover. When hot, a Great Gray Owl will pant and droop its wings to expose an unfeathered area (apterid) under the wing.

Hunting & Food: The Great Gray Owl hunts mainly during early morning and late afternoon, especially during winter, but will also hunt during other daylight hours and at night. They are often seen perched on poles or fenceposts along roads. When hunting, a Great Gray Owl will use a perch to "sit and wait" or it may hunt through the forest a metre or so (a few feet) above the ground. When ground is covered with snow, a Great Gray Owl can hunt by hearing alone and often plunges into the snow to capture small rodents moving underneath as far as 30 centimetres (12 inches).
Although a very large Owl, small rodents are their primary prey (80 to 90% of diet) with voles being the most important food in Alaska, Canada, and Oregon. Pocket gophers are the most important food in California. Other mammals taken include rats, mice, shrews, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, moles, and weasels. Birds are rarely captured, and include crows, small hawks, American Robin, ducks and grouse. Frogs, toads, snakes, and insects are taken very infrequently.
Pellets are very large, about 7.5 to 10 cm (3-4") long and  2.5 to 5 cm(1-2") thick. They are dark greyish-black and compact.

Distribution: Great Gray Owls are found from Alaska across Canada, down the Northern Rocky Mountains, and northern Minnesota. They are also found in northern Europe and Asia.

Speed: 1/1000
F-stop: f/11
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 300mm
Tripod
timonejoon, coasties, tomcezar, gallezeric, SelenE, TAZ, Argus, Adanac, vanderschelden, RAP, hibou, livios, jeanpaul, pierrefonds has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Helene

ooo, he is angry or looking like: what are you doing?? :))
Perfect shot with great composition. I like it.
TFS

Regards
Timon

  • Great 
  • jossim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1575 W: 5 N: 2181] (12250)
  • [2007-02-01 22:35]

Excellente photo Helene,les détails du plumage sont parfaits et l'oiseau est très joli.
Merci!
Joseph

  • Great 
  • pvs Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1168 W: 261 N: 3035] (13835)
  • [2007-02-02 1:13]

Hi Helene,

A great capture of this beatifull owl,must be awesome to see them in the wild,TFS

Paul

beautiful and sad, TFS Ori

Hi Helene

Lovely shot. Good clarity and sharpness. Nice colours. Excellent eye contact. TFS.

Nice bird, and interesting texture feathers in contrast with sky. Very good composition. I like it. Bravo. Best regards, Cezar T.

P.S. In the National Geographic Magazine - Romania it was one article about Great Gray Owl. It is a very special bird.

Hello Helene
Good compo,colors and brithness.
Bravo !
jacob

hi Helene,
very beautiful catch of sight a very pleasant composition ds colors superb and a very good clearness cheer

eric

  • Great 
  • SelenE Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2405 W: 63 N: 4227] (13822)
  • [2007-02-02 6:18]

Hi Helene,
He's got the Look!
I liked the expression a lot :o) Very good composition, lighting and focus. TFS
Selen

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2241 W: 47 N: 3167] (10926)
  • [2007-02-02 7:02]

Bonjour Hélène,
Un beau cliché bien présenté. L'oiseau joli et son regard étonnant, il est méditatif ou endormi ;-) Netteté, PdC et expo sont tiptop.
Compliments et merci pour le partage.

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3819 W: 190 N: 11368] (35041)
  • [2007-02-02 7:20]

Hi Helene,
Excellent portrait of a Great Grey, your sharp and well-composed shot encouraging us to take in every deatail of this magnificent owl.
Well done and TFS,
Regards, Ivan

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1169 W: 1 N: 5208] (17609)
  • [2007-02-02 7:28]

Hi Helene,
He does not look happy, did you wake him. Excellent capture with details.colors and composition all being excellent.
Rick

Hi Helene,
I don't think he likes you very much to be honest.
Good photograph; no critiques!
Well done
TFS
Annick

  • Great 
  • RAP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2524 W: 345 N: 2373] (7405)
  • [2007-02-02 14:23]

Gran punto de vista y fondo para mostrarnos la belleza de esta ave Helene con agudeza, claridad y detalles, gracias al apropiado foco e iluminación que exhibe los colores del ave realzados por el contraste logrado sobre el segundo plano de la escena.
Me gusta el encuadre vertical elegido para su presentación.
Por qué usaste ISO400 en este caso con tan buena iluminación?
Un cordial saludo desde Buenos Aires... Ricardo

Great point of view and bottom to show us the beauty of this bird Helene with sharpness, clarity and details, due to the appropriate focus and illumination that it exhibits the colors of the bird enhanced by the contrast achieved on the background of the scene.
I like the vertical framing elect for presentation.
Why did you use ISO400 in this case with so good illumination?
A cordial greeting from Buenos Aires... Ricardo

  • Great 
  • horia Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2173 W: 219 N: 4384] (14904)
  • [2007-02-03 5:31]

Hi Helene

This is a spendid capture!
The pose of this big owl is impeccable and you were lucky to have no big and distracting branches neither in the FG not the BG. The POV is exceptional, the eye-contact is great and the colors here are just outstanding!
Very nice framing and composition, too.

Bravo and TFS
Horia

  • Great 
  • hibou Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 216 W: 1 N: 329] (1617)
  • [2007-02-03 18:56]

Bonjour Hélène,
Une autre photo parfaite, de plus, l'oiseau semble poser pour vous. Merci de la partager
Donald

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2156 W: 322 N: 4258] (16906)
  • [2007-02-04 15:45]

Helene, I also enjoy owls a lot.

Great composition, pov and exposure.

Excellent eye contact, saturation and pose.

Congratulations.

Salut Hélène
C'est un excellant rise de vue que tu as réussi-la avec une belle expression dans son regard.La composition est très belle avec de beaux détails dans le plumage et de belles couleurs
Merci et au revoir...JP
Les sourires demain

Beautiful look. Beautiful colors.
Excellent composition and POV.
TFS
JM

Hi Helene,
Owls are my favourite birds, and your photo is very fine! Nice lighting and sharpness. Great capture,TFS.

Regards, Peter

Bonsoir Hélène,

Une belle image de ce grand hibou gris, la photo a une bonne composition, netteté et de jolies couleurs. Bonne soirée.

Pierre

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