Male Great Horned Owls Grooms & Eats A Feather, 10/25//2024 in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Charles, a male Great Horned Owl, grooms or preens extensively especially his large and powerful talons and while grooming his chest a feather comes off in his bill and he eats it! Charles and his mate, May, were slowly waking up around sunset and they groom and stretch to prepare for a night of hooting & hunting. I have only seen the feather eating a few times over the years and this was very extensive talon grooming.
I have been observing, documenting and doing outreach with Charles, his mates and their owlets since December 2005 in Forest Park; a large urban park in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. To learn more about them, please visit my blog Forest Park Owls, forestparkowls.blogspot.com and check me out on Twitter and Instagram @forestparkowls Thank you for watching! Please hit the like button, subscribe and thank you for your interest and support!