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Over the years, I have admired the great grey owl several times in the Poznan ZOO. An amazing, mighty owl with incredible eyes and look. They have unbelievable hearing so that they can hear rodents scampering under the snow, carry out a noiseless swoop, and catch a mouse from under the snow cover, not seeing it. All these photographs, videos and information will not substitute for one’s own observation, and satisfaction from having one’s own pictures of this beautiful bird. In Poland it is very difficult, as the entire population is said to number several pairs. It does not belong to night owls as it usually hunts at dusk and dawn. It took two days of search through raised bogs and I managed to see and photograph the great grey owl. It is hard to describe emotions accompanying such an encounter – being face to face with its incredible gaze in such an incredible place. The great grey owl likes marshy forests, where it sits on broken tree boughs, looking for rodents, which are a staple part of its diet. To notice it is not simple at all. If you are sitting still among hundreds of tree trunks, you may overlook it, even from a small distance. Only when it moves, hunts, you can easily see it, as its wingspan is almost one and a half meters. I have seen it hunting for a rodent several times, and I can assure you, the sight is amazing. It sits still, with its head down and looks around the trunk it sits on. Suddenly, without producing any sound, it swoops down on its prey. Not all its hunting attempts are successful. It is so amazing to be able to observe and photograph a bird without any camouflage. It is nearly indifferent to human presence, sometimes keeping a distance of a dozen or so meters from a man. I also happened to see it grooming for a dozen or so minutes, when it was not distressed by anything. Unfortunately, among hundreds of dead trees it was difficult to take dynamic pictures of the bird in flight, the ones which I like the most. The light was also unfavorable. Firstly, autofocus was lost; secondly, even if I managed to set focus, almost every time I had some tree in the frame. Well, that’s the bird’s natural, hunting territory. Numerous photos were taken, which, in my opinion, create an interesting gallery, that, I hope, reflects the whole beauty and charm of this incredible bird and the environment in which it lives. The time spent in the beautiful forest with this incredible bird, will surely stay in my memory for long…
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