Swainson's Hawk-pellet

This may not appeal to some but I've always been a sucker for interesting behaviors. This juvenile in Beaverhead County, Montana put on quite a show casting pellets - two of them, one right after the other. I wish I'd had my tc attached but I had just removed it in anticipation of a take-off when the action began.

7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, shot from pickup window on 8/22/12, cropped to 50% of original image, sharpened bird and post, slight exposure adjustment in ACR, cloned out 5 tiny, OOF flying insects, no additional processing or adjustments, natural light, not baited, set up or called in

Larger version provided

The rest of the sequence can be seen here http://featheredphotography.com/blog/2012/08/26/swainsons-hawk-regurgitating-pellets/ if you're interested.