General Owl Discussion

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Kivia
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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:59 am

I'm actually about to start making a web page on the Great Horned for my Tumblr. They're very pretty birds~

I went out the other day to the park to see if I could find any Barred Owls. Only one came out, and it was a male. I guess the nesting season has officially started here, so I won't be seeing many owls for the next few weeks.

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by valkea » Sat Mar 31, 2012 2:06 pm

Great Horned Owls are gorgeous~ Haven't heard the one that's been hanging around my back yard for a while, wonder if she left or if I'm just not paying enough attention. Not sure when the nesting season starts, though I guess that'd be a possible explanation.

By the way Kivia, I'm jealous. Please magically teleport me to where you live so we can watch owls together.
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Kivia
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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:29 pm

Hidden Phoenix wrote:By the way Kivia, I'm jealous. Please magically teleport me to where you live so we can watch owls together.
If only teleportation were possible. ;_;
I think anyone can go owl watching if you can find a place where the owls are and have a call. But as I said, you have to actually find them, which can be difficult since not many species are seen during the day. I think I just got lucky with the Barred Owls since they're crepuscular.

Just did some reading, and Great Horned Owls breed in January/February. So that's probably where your owl went off to, Hidden. ;D

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Honey wolf » Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:57 am

I love owls, there my sceret favourite animal/bird, since my friend always copys me with my favourite things :x ( wait, why did I just tell you all that I love owls when it was a secret )

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:40 pm

Owls are also my secret favorite animal. =O

Anyone have any interesting owl encounters to share? Maybe even at zoos and such? I want to go to DC soon and visit the Smithsonian Zoo as they apparently have a few owls there. I'd love to get some more pictures if possible, because zoos are great places to get close shots of animals.

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by swampfall » Sat May 19, 2012 4:26 pm

My favorite owl is probably a snowy owl or a elf owl.
(I read Gaurdians of Ga'hool)
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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Edme1 » Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:27 pm

I love Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and my favorite types of owls are probably Spotted Owls, Snowy Owls, Great Gray owls, and Elf Owls. I know, a lot. ^^
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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Storm_Fear » Sat Jun 23, 2012 3:21 pm

I once went to a zoo and saw a barn owl holding its foot up to it's chest. It was really strange and I was wondering if anyone knew what it was doing.

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:01 pm

swampfall wrote:My favorite owl is probably a snowy owl or a elf owl.
(I read Gaurdians of Ga'hool)
Edme1 wrote:I love Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and my favorite types of owls are probably Spotted Owls, Snowy Owls, Great Gray owls, and Elf Owls. I know, a lot. ^^
GoG fans, eh =D? Sweet- I love all of those owls too! I spread my love to all owl species. ;D
Storm_Fear wrote:I once went to a zoo and saw a barn owl holding its foot up to it's chest. It was really strange and I was wondering if anyone knew what it was doing.
Was it like this?
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6939 ... a618_z.jpg
Owls actually frequently stand on one foot while resting and hold a foot up toward their chest, either to reduce stress or stay warm. Usually you can't see the foot, but I have seen it on webcams where the foot is visible near the chest, and in the photo above. Here's a little read for you on why owls stand on one foot:

http://melandsydney3.blogspot.com/p/why ... e-leg.html

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Nordue » Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:43 pm

  • Look at these owls--I mean owl^^.

    .

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Sun Aug 19, 2012 1:58 am

I love how the Barn and Verreaux's Eagle Owl are like, "What's his problem?"
One of my favorite owl videos right there! ='D Actually, several species of owls have learned this posture of shrinking up for camouflage, called the Tarnstellung.

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Nordue » Sun Aug 19, 2012 7:55 pm

  • It's so wierd! I hadn't heard tell of it before I came across it on YouTube on one of those wild video-surfing adventures. It's just another one of nature's many cool surprises! I'll have to Wikipedia that term you provided Kivia, because its just such an extraordinary technique! I want to know the details :) .

    ...You should be an ornithologist. Ever considered that :wink: ?

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Mon Aug 20, 2012 4:28 pm

I have wanted to get into ornithology, but owls would be my specialty (at least I would like it that way). I do a lot of research on my own time. ;D

There isn't a lot you can find on the term, but there is an excerpt from an article if you're curious:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/johnsgard/27/

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Nordue » Tue Aug 28, 2012 4:48 pm

  • I can tell! My prefrences lie more with canines, but I don't know if I'd want any species specializations only because I don't have any favourites at the moment :P ! Ecology, yesss! It's a shame the secondary school system dosen't focus on it more. We barely glossed it.

    Thanks for the link though; I read the abstract. I didn't realize it was a camoflague technique too, I thought it was only for defense!

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Re: General Owl Discussion

Post by Kivia » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:39 am

I'm currently a Wildlife Conservation major in college, and the classes I take focus heavily on the biology and ecology of mammals, birds, and herpetofauna. I'm not sure what your university offers, but definitely see to getting into classes like that!

But anyways, it is a pretty interesting technique! I never even knew the name of it until I had done some research on Scops Owls. I'm curious to see if any of my ornithology books discuss the matter any further.

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