![\"loggerhead-shrike-5261\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/loggerhead-shrike-52611.jpg\" "\\"loggerhead-shrike-5261\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a01\/1250, f\/8, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n This was my first image of a shrike ejecting a pellet (3\/3\/10).\u00a0 I\u00a0didn’t anticipate it happening and wasn’t even sure what was going on until I processed the image.\u00a0 I got two almost identical shots that showed the pellet in the mouth and\u00a0missed the pellet as it was ejected (I think I remember my buffer filling up\u00a0just about then).\u00a0 I was also too far away for good image quality – this is a large crop.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n On the\u00a0next opportunity (8\/5\/11) I was frustrated by obstructing branches and a poor light angle.\u00a0 While this young bird was ejecting the pellet it was facing mostly toward me which put its face and the pellet in shadow.\u00a0\u00a0Then the juvenile did something completely unexpected – instead of ejecting the pellet downwards it caught the pellet in its beak and began playing with it,\u00a0then turned sideways to give me some better light on the action (though I never did get light in the eye).\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>And then it proceeded to completely mash-up the pellet in its beak and let the debris fall to the ground.\u00a0 It didn’t\u00a0swallow any of it as far as I could tell so my suspicion is that this unusual behavior\u00a0was just\u00a0an example of a young and inexperienced bird experimenting with its environment, like many young vertebrates do.<\/p>\n Obviously at this point\u00a0I’m still a long ways from my goal of getting a series of quality images of pellet ejection behavior.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 1\/640, f\/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n On 11\/25\/11 I was stymied by atrocious lighting which gave me a high-key background and little light on the bird.\u00a0 It is a pretty good angle to see the pellet in the back of the throat though.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/640, f\/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n And 1\/640 shutter speed just isn’t enough to get the pellet sharp as it’s ejected.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, I’m becoming a bit frustrated and discouraged at the prospects of\u00a0ever meeting my goal.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/1000, f\/9, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n My next opportunity (12\/23\/11) gave me some encouragement if not the completion of my goal.\u00a0 I was close enough\u00a0to the bird\u00a0for\u00a0nice detail and the light was good even though I had distracting out of focus branches in the background.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And I learned another lesson in this encounter – when the pellet was ejected I missed it because I had framed the bird so tightly at bottom.<\/p>\n Through these many months of frustrations I\u00a0learned a few things.\u00a0<\/p>\n a).\u00a0 time your shots so your buffer doesn’t fill up.\u00a0 These birds often go through several bouts of “gagging” to get the pellet out.\u00a0 It’s very easy to fill the buffer on gagging shots and miss the pellet coming out.\u00a0<\/p>\n b).\u00a0 with a prime telephoto it’s very possible to be too close – leave some room at the bottom of the frame to give yourself a better chance at catching the pellet as it drops.\u00a0 There’s more than gravity involved here – the pellet is\u00a0forcefully ejected, travels very fast and is easy to miss.\u00a0 If you’re shooting with a zoom lens, zoom back.\u00a0 In my case I can take off the tc.\u00a0<\/p>\n c).\u00a0 finding a bird about to eject a pellet isn’t an everyday occurrence and you have to be prepared with enough shutter speed to catch the action so watch the behavior carefully.\u00a0 If they begin to open their mouths repeatedly (so it’s not a yawn) then get ready with the appropriate settings!\u00a0<\/p>\n d).\u00a0 shrikes are often difficult to approach but if you’re surprised that one is letting you get unusually close be ready for this type of shot.\u00a0 In my experience they’re much more reluctant to fly if they’re about to hack up a pellet and that “stickiness” can be predictive of this type of behavior.<\/p>\n \u00a0e).\u00a0 BNA\u00a0Online (from Cornell Labs) says this about Loggerhead Shrikes\u00a0– \u00a0“Pellet formation, from the time prey is ingested until the compacted pellet is egested, averages 35.5 min”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many bird photographers are not aware that shrikes eject pellets in the first place and this timing (35 minutes after prey is eaten) suggests to me that ejection typically occurs often during the\u00a0 day – something\u00a0bird photographers interested in bird behaviors might want to be cognizant of.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Finally on 2\/2\/12 \u00a0most everything came together\u00a0 for me.\u00a0 This adult was sitting on an unobstructed branch in good light and with a clean background.\u00a0 It let me approach closely so I immediately anticipated the possibility of a pellet ejection and adjusted my settings to give me the shutter speed and depth of field I thought I might need.\u00a0 It went through several gagging sessions trying to get the pellet out but each time I was judicious with my bursts to try to save my buffer for the ejection.\u00a0 In this first image you can just barely see the front end of the pellet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n