Owl Time
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 11:55 am
Has anyone ever seen any owls or have any interesting owl related stories?
A few years back we were out walking and came across what almost looked like a turkey. It was a Long-eared owl, injured in some way so that it couldn't fly (probably a head injury), just spreading its feathers to look threatening. We captured it and got it to a wildlife rehab center. After a couple months we brought it back and released it into the same bit of forest where we found it. These images show it as it was when found, and just after it was released. (The rehab center named it "Guffey".)starsurfer wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 11:55 am Has anyone ever seen any owls or have any interesting owl related stories?
https://owlcation.com/stem/The-Great-Horned-Owl wrote:
Great Horned Owls Will Attack You, so Beware of Them
<<All predators are territorial, and the great horned owl is no different. These owls are known to at times dive bomb humans. If you know good and well you are in an area where owls are attacking, then you should carry an umbrella. When it is raining owl talons, yes, an umbrella, thin and simple as one is, can provide some deterrence. The great horned owl's talons are the dangerous thing, that and the fact you won't be looking for one when one is looking to injure you. Five hundred pounds per square inch is the pressure said owl's talons can exert against your skin. Losing an eye is certainly within the realm of possibilities. The strength of the great horned owl's talons is comparable to that of a golden eagle, or to that of a German shepherd's bite.>>
No need to apologize, it's all part of the yin yang. I have never seen an owl in my life but barred owls and great horned owls are my favourites.BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 6:59 pm Well starsurfer, sorry to have given this nice thread such a dark turn, but we still love owls too, in spite of the encounter that almost qualified us for being subjects of Animal Planet’s I Was Prey series. (Vicki informed me that the Great Horned Owl encounter was on a previous trip to our seeing the Elf Owls.) But it’s very true that Great Horned Owls can be quite dangerous. In fact, I’ve heard that men wearing coonskin caps have (allegedly) been killed by owls.
Bruce
Never seen an owl!? How about hearing them? They're much more often heard than seen. I heard two Great Horned owls calling back and forth to each other last night in fact.starsurfer wrote: ↑Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:19 pm I have never seen an owl in my life but barred owls and great horned owls are my favourites.![]()
Do you know what kind owl it was saturno2?
I might have heard an owl but I'm not sure.BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:11 amNever seen an owl!? How about hearing them? They're much more often heard than seen. I heard two Great Horned owls calling back and forth to each other last night in fact.starsurfer wrote: ↑Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:19 pm I have never seen an owl in my life but barred owls and great horned owls are my favourites.![]()
Bruce
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:53 pm I don't have much of a story to tell about it, but another neat owl I've seen a few times back in Texas was the Burrowing Owl. They don't need no stinkin' trees.
Very nice first post Retrograde!Retrograde wrote: ↑Fri Aug 03, 2018 8:40 am In my old suburb, at the edge of town giving way to desert & farmland, you could see what I guess are burrowing owls. Big earth mounds left by some excavator years ago, with dozens of little openings like gopher holes, were left alongside an irrigation drainage canal. In daylight, just walking by, you'd see little owl faces pop out at you, like whack-a-mole, but with giant owl-eyes staring at you.![]()
Like this, but lots of them.
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The truth is that I do not know what kindBDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:53 pmDo you know what kind owl it was saturno2?
I don't have much of a story to tell about it, but another neat owl I've seen a few times back in Texas was the Burrowing Owl. They don't need no stinkin' trees.
Bruce
This was somewhere in South America, no? If so a burrowing owl is likely, even though it was a peeping tom. (sorry if that joke doesn't translate saturno2)saturno2 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:39 pm Now I remember. YEars ago I woke up one night at
5 o'clock in the morning and I saw an owl in my
Window that was open.
Reviewing ( now) the encyclopedia I realized
That it was an owl of burrow.
It had a big head, was brown and had no visible ears.
But what caught my attention was his intense look.
It was calm and It did not emit any sound.
I live in Ecuador, South AmericaBDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:21 pmThis was somewhere in South America, no? If so a burrowing owl is likely, even though it was a peeping tom. (sorry if that joke doesn't translate saturno2)saturno2 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:39 pm Now I remember. YEars ago I woke up one night at
5 o'clock in the morning and I saw an owl in my
Window that was open.
Reviewing ( now) the encyclopedia I realized
That it was an owl of burrow.
It had a big head, was brown and had no visible ears.
But what caught my attention was his intense look.
It was calm and It did not emit any sound.
As for a "peeping tom", in the U.S. it is what someone who peers into others' bedroom windows (like your owl) is called. "Tom" is also what we call male turkeys.Owls
Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae
The typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk. Twenty-seven species have been recorded in Ecuador.
White-throated screech-owl, Megascops albogularis
Tropical screech-owl, Megascops choliba
Rufescent screech-owl, Megascops ingens
Cinnamon screech-owl, Megascops petersoni
Choco screech-owl, Megascops centralis
Foothill screech-owl, Megascops roraimae
Peruvian screech-owl, Megascops roboratus
Tawny-bellied screech-owl, Megascops watsonii
Crested owl, Lophostrix cristata
Spectacled owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata
Band-bellied owl, Pulsatrix melanota
Great horned owl, Bubo virginianus
Mottled owl, Ciccaba virgata
Black-and-white owl, Ciccaba nigrolineata
Black-banded owl, Ciccaba huhula
Rufous-banded owl, Ciccaba albitarsis
Cloud-forest pygmy-owl, Glaucidium nubicola
Andean pygmy-owl, Glaucidium jardinii
Subtropical pygmy-owl, Glaucidium parkeri
Central American pygmy-owl, Glaucidium griseiceps
Ferruginous pygmy-owl, Glaucidium brasilianum
Peruvian pygmy-owl, Glaucidium peruanum
Burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia
Buff-fronted owl, Aegolius harrisii
Striped owl, Asio clamator
Stygian owl, Asio stygius
Short-eared owl, Asio fammeus
The owl that I saw in my window it was of the specie Athene curricularia, an owl of burrow,BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:04 pm Ecuador, that's fantastic saturno2! I think Ecuador has the longest list of bird species in the world (1,632). Here's the list of Owls that have been seen in your country;
As for a "peeping tom", in the U.S. it is what someone who peers into others' bedroom windows (like your owl) is called. "Tom" is also what we call male turkeys.Owls
Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae
The typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk. Twenty-seven species have been recorded in Ecuador.
White-throated screech-owl, Megascops albogularis
Tropical screech-owl, Megascops choliba
Rufescent screech-owl, Megascops ingens
Cinnamon screech-owl, Megascops petersoni
Choco screech-owl, Megascops centralis
Foothill screech-owl, Megascops roraimae
Peruvian screech-owl, Megascops roboratus
Tawny-bellied screech-owl, Megascops watsonii
Crested owl, Lophostrix cristata
Spectacled owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata
Band-bellied owl, Pulsatrix melanota
Great horned owl, Bubo virginianus
Mottled owl, Ciccaba virgata
Black-and-white owl, Ciccaba nigrolineata
Black-banded owl, Ciccaba huhula
Rufous-banded owl, Ciccaba albitarsis
Cloud-forest pygmy-owl, Glaucidium nubicola
Andean pygmy-owl, Glaucidium jardinii
Subtropical pygmy-owl, Glaucidium parkeri
Central American pygmy-owl, Glaucidium griseiceps
Ferruginous pygmy-owl, Glaucidium brasilianum
Peruvian pygmy-owl, Glaucidium peruanum
Burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia
Buff-fronted owl, Aegolius harrisii
Striped owl, Asio clamator
Stygian owl, Asio stygius
Short-eared owl, Asio fammeus
Bruce
I suppose the size of an owl is relative. My only other owl story is about the one that lived in a palm tree when I was a kid. I was too young to wait outside for her nocturnal breakfast-run, so I never got a good look. That I knew she was an owl at all is by the hundreds of furry rodent jaw bones and femurs that collected at the base of the palm over the years (at the time that was real proto-metal, but I resisted any re-assembly).BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:31 pm Very nice first post Retrograde!
Burrowing owls are a new world species, and they're not very small owls either. Little owls also sometimes nest in the ground but they're an old world species, and I think the photo you posted was of Little Owls. What part of the planet did you see them in?
Bruce