Random Fact

Most owls don't really make the hooting noise, "Hoo, Hoo!" That everyone thinks they do. Some species like the Barn owl and the Snowy owl, make screeching noises. Other owls make a "Coo, Coo" noise much like a dove. Only a few owls make the "Hoo" noise of which many people think all owls do. The Barred owl makes that noise, and no others that I can think of.

The Burrowing Owl

The votes have been unanimous! (Only one person voted...) This week is the Burrowing Owl, Athene Cunicularia! I know most of the stuff about this owl because I did a project on it last year. Anyway, this owl is a brown owl (in many different shades) with white spots. It has yellow, circular eyes and white tufts around the eyes and beak. It has long, featherless legs that, somewhat surprisingly, it uses for running. The owl normally lives in burrows, digging it's own or taking over an abandoned badger, fox, armadillo, skunk, or prairie dog den. These owls are featured in a few books, such as Carl Hiaasen's "Hoot" and Kathryn Lasky's "Guardians of Ga'hoole" (My personal favorite series, you have no idea how long I have wanted to put that on this blog) These owls lay 2-12 eggs, and (eww!) line the burrows with horse or cow manure. They eat small rodents and birds, also some snakes or bugs. The burrowing owl is, unlike most owls, diurnal. Genetic similarity and overall appearance unite it with the other members of Athene. These are the Little Owl of Eurasia and northern Africa, the Spotted Owlet of southeastern Asia, and the extremely rare Forest Owlet. They make a "Coo, Coooo" sound and a series of clucks and chatters. Here is the link to hear the sounds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Burrowing_Owl/sounds. Below are some images.

Adult Burrowing owl in flight

Family Time!

Juvenile Burrowing Owl

Spotted Owl

The votes are in! This week is.... The Spotted Owl! The spotted owl is an owl that lives in coniferous areas. They also may live in canyons or in the mountains. They, like most owls, can live to be 17 years old. They are a brown of many shades, and are covered in white spots. They have large, black-brown eyes, and have no ear tufts. They nest in tree hollows, Open topped trees, and platforms. Spotted owls do not build their own nests and normally take a nest from another animal before laying their eggs. They lay 1-3 eggs and feed the hatchlings small rodents and bugs. They eat smaller and medium sized mammals, and hunt at night. The owl mainly makes a sound like: "Hup, Hoo-Hoo, Hooo" This owl is also one of the best-studied owls in the whole world!

Spotted owl eggs and one hatchling

Adult spotted owl after hunting

Juvenile spotted owls

Random Facts

Owls see just as well during the day as they do during the night. Their ears are what makes them be able to "see" really well. They can create a mental picture in their mind based only on sound. Cool, right? But the really cool part is that if it was really dark, and there was a tree in front of the owl, the owl could sense it and move so it wouldn't hit the tree. And some owls might have better vision at night, but all those people who think owls can't see during the day, you're wrong!

Even when it's dark, owls can see really well!

Random Pictures

It might not be monday, but this is still funny!

Random Pictures

I decided to do two pictures today, because I could not decide which one to post. So here are two funny owl pictures!

Why and how owls can move their necks the way they do

I found this on the internet, the website is listed below

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US studied snowy, barred and great horned owls after their deaths from natural causes.They found that the vertebral artery enters the neck higher than in other birds, creating more slack.Unlike humans, owls were found to have small vessel connections between the carotid and vertebral arteries, allowing blood to be exchanged between the two blood vessels.This creates an uninterrupted blood flow to the brain, even if one route is blocked during extreme neck rotation.The adaptation gives the birds a huge range of vision without having to move their bodies and arouse detection by prey.The lack of similar adaptations in humans could explain why humans are more vulnerable to neck injury, the experts concluded. Below is my picture of a barn owl, its head turned 260 degrees (owls can't turn them 360, like everyone thinks) and upside down!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2271514/How-owls-turn-heads-Scientists-uncover-secrets.html#ixzz3iW3JdD5y

Random Facts

Owls have two ears on either side of the head concealed by feathers, like most birds. But where the ears are on the owl is the cool thing. One of the owls ears is lower down on the head, while the other is higher up. This allows the owl to hear if the sound is high, or low to the ground. Barn owls have the best hearing of them all, because their facial disk is round, and acts like a funnel for sound. Also, most owls can move their ears a bit to locate the sound. The reason owls tilt and move their head around is for that reason, so their ears can locate the sound.

Click image to see it moving!

Random Pictures

Random facts

Owls have four talons, two in the front and two in the back. But one of the back talons has an awesome ability. It can move forward to grip the owls prey better. It swivels in it's socket and moves to the front of the owl's foot. Cool right?

Real or just a myth?

This week, instead of an owl, we are doing... a debate! This should be fun, and you can join in by using the comments! Even after the week is over, I will still accept comments, and your thoughts on the topic. I'm thinking of doing a debate once a month, but I'm not sure yet, so if you liked it this week, please let me know in the comments! Anyway, the topic of the debate is... drum roll please.... The Rainbow Owl! No body knows if its real, it might just be a myth, but I'm putting all my information about it on this blog today! I am also doing a (Not) very short interview with my sister to see what she thinks!

The Rainbow Owl:
This owl, though maybe mythical, is really cool. The owls feathers, if it were real, (and I think it is) Would most likely not be in rainbow order, just the colors of a rainbow. And, now that I think about it lets put those theories up here.

1.  The rainbow owl might just have been an owl that got wet, and everyone who saw it when it was wet, thought it was rainbow because of the way the light reflected off of it. 
2. The owl could just be an owl that some body had as a pet, and they painted it rainbow.
3. Or, the owl might really not exist, and was just someone being really good at photo shopping
4. Or even, that this owl is really an owl that has some kind of mutation, and its feathers caught the light all the time, and they were really shiny, and it made the owl look rainbow.

But, if you look up pictures, the first thing that comes up is a picture of a rainbow barred owl... so it probably isn't its own species, but the theory above about the water on the owl might have been right. Lets interview my sister to find out what she thinks!

Me: What do you think about my theories?
My Sister: I agree with the theory about photo shopping, i have no idea about #4 and i say it is a good theory, but when you look up rainbow owl, all you see is photo shopped pictures. Personally, if the rainbow owl of #4 does exist, then i would say that it is in some remote part of the world where hardly anyone ever goes. It makes sense, right?
Me: Yes. What about the other theories?
My Sister: They are not very logical.
Me: Why not?
My Sister: They just don't make any sense.
Me: So the most logical one to you is what theory?
My Sister: Number four, where it reflects light.
Me: So do you believe in the rainbow owl? Could it really exist?
My Sister: I have mixed feelings about both of those questions.
Me: Do you have anything else to say?
My Sister: Check out my blog, www.thesquirrelstation.blogspot.com!
Me: Anything else?
My Sister: With Everything you need to know about squirrels!
Me: Anything else?
My Sister: (Silence)

And that was what my sister, libby thinks about the rainbow owl. Please, Check out her blog, and tell us your thoughts on The Rainbow Owl!

Random Fact

Some very large owls, like the eagle owl for example, can and will eat deer, foxes, small wolves, herons, golden eagles, hedgehogs, wild boars, and some pets. Other owls will catch prey as large as they are, and sometimes something twice the size of them.

Eagle Owl Caught a Fox

Random facts

Owls are not alone in the fact that they can't move their eyes. Also:

Random Fact

Do you think all owls are silent fliers? Thats not true! Some owls, like the pygmy owl, are really noisy compared to other owls!

They can't all be silent fliers!

Short-Eared Owls

Today we are going to talk about the Short-Eared Owl (Asio Flammeus) These owls are medium sized with a large head, a short neck, and broad wings. Their plumage is typically a mottled tawny and brown. Females are slightly larger than males. They can be mistaken for the Long-Eared Owl. They live in open plains, such as grasslands, meadows, prairies, and tundras. They live all over the World (Except for Antarctica and Australia), and make their nests on the ground. Their nest is a small scrape in the ground lined with grass. It's clutch of eggs is 3-10 big, and the eggs are a creamy white color. They have been known to lure predators away from their nest by pretending they have a crippled wing. They mostly hunt for voles, mice, ground squirrels, shrews, rats, bats, muskrats, moles, roaches, grasshoppers, beetles, katydids and caterpillars. They generally hunt at night, but are known to hunt during the daylight too. Competition for prey in North America can be fierce with the Northern Harrier because they share the same likings for prey. Short-eared owls have a scratchy bark-like call. Raspy waowk, waowk, waowk or toot-toot-toot-toot-toot sounds are common. A loud eeee-yerp is also heard on breeding grounds. However, short-eared owls are silent on the wintering grounds. 

Adult Short-Eared Owl

Short-Eared Owl Flying

Young Short-Eared Owl