Posted by Bob Lefebvre
By now most birders in Calgary have heard about the Northern Saw-whet Owl that was found in Carburn Park last Thursday. Phil Smith was there when it was found, and he captured an amazing sequence of pictures that show the owl coughing up a pellet.
Owls and many other birds regularly regurgitate pellets, which consist of the indigestible parts of the food they eat. Saw-whet owls eat a lot of Deer Mice, and their pellets contain mostly bones and fur.
Although these owls are thought to produce one pellet per day, it is a rare sight to see, and even rarer to photograph. The pictures have been assembled into a short video.
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Below is the complete sequence of photos showing the owl coughing up the pellet. (Photos by Phil Smith, used by permission.)
To see more of Phil Smith’s photos, see his Flickr Page.
Anne Elliott also captured a photo of the pellet being produced:
To see more of Anne Elliott’s photos, see her Flickr Page.
Wow, that is a huge pellet to be expelled from such a tiny owl!
From an elementary teacher’s perspective, these photos are AMAZING! Thank you for sharing them! WOW!
Super Cool. I never knew he had it in him…
Thats very neat that Phil was able to capture such amazing behavior of such an amazing bird.
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Hi there. Great picture Phil of the Northern Saw-Whet Owl. I had no idea that they cough up a ball like pellet. I live in Toronto, and this past Friday, my wife and I came upon an adult Saw-Whet Owl out in the bush. This was the first time as birders that we had ever seen a Saw-Whet Owl. Fortunately, we had our camera with us and got some good pictures and video. We have posted them for anyone interested at: http://frametoframe.ca/photo-essay-northern-saw-whet-owl-sighting
That was an amazing video to watch. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I have a numbered Saw-whet Owl box on my property. We had one egg in the box that did not hatch. I also found a pellet near the box. I live in Northern Ontario, Canada.