On the Wing

This is the next image in my series of a Great Grey Owl I had the opportunity to photograph last summer as it zeroed in on a prey item in the distance and lifted off in pursuit.

I was tempted to title this one "almost," because if the owl was just 6in futher in her flight her awesome talons would be clear of the foreground vegetation. I do have additional images in the sequence, but for me, none matched the angle, wing position and intense look of this one. I may bounce one more off you later in the week to get some objective perspective on which is better.

In the meantime, what do you think on this one? Does it work as captured and presented, or is it indeed (sadly) an "almost?"

PLEASE CHECK OUT THE LARGER VERSION for much nicer feather detail, etc.

As a footnote, I know you often hear people talk about how silent these massive birds are in flight, but once you have one fly by you at close proximity it is mind blowing. As a former fly fishing outfitter in Alberta's foothills and eastern slopes of the Rockies, I can attest to having the poop scared out of me more than once by Great Horned Owls and Great Greys. This experience photographed here reminded me once again what amazingly silent hunters these raptors are. Very cool.

Camera Notes:
Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED with TC-14EII teleconverter
ISO 400
1/1250sec @ f/7.1
-0.3EV to preserve details in whites
monopod

Processing Notes:
Converted from RAW with Phase One Capture One Pro 7 with minor adjustments to tone and contrast
Tweaked brightness and contrast slightly with Nik Viveza 2
Single pass of NR with Nik Dfine 2.0 (had something funky going on with noise in shadows in RGB on this one)
Cropped horizontal 4X5 from vertical (full frame width)
Selective sharpening