Coughing up a pellet

A couple of evenings ago, when I was watching the Great Horned Owl family in Fish Creek Park, one of the owlets coughed up a pellet. However, instead of spitting it out, it swallowed it again, then coughed it up again, swallow, and so on, over and over again, LOL. I don't think I've ever captured a pellet being coughed up before. I also captured some funny expressions while it was doing this, with its face all screwed up, but it makes the face take on an almost human look, which was a little creepy. After a long morning walk at Carburn Park today, I called in to see "my" owls and then took just a short walk and found another pair of Great Horned Owls that I had been told about. Saw two adults but no sign of any young ones. Warning: this is a VERY heavily cropped image, so don't bother looking at large size, LOL.

"A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth .... Hawk and owl pellets are grey or brown, and range in shape from spherical to oblong or plug-shaped. In large birds, they are one to two inches long .... The hair, bones and other body parts (such as limbs, skin fragments, and even faeces) of rodents found in owl pellets may carry viable rodent viruses and bacteria. It is therefore advisable to sterilize pellets in a microwave oven before study. This is particularly important when using pellets at school." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_(ornithology)