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I like owls but had a scare once when one perched on my backyard fence... the owl was looking at my chihuahua/Yorkie pup that was distracted by a chew toy. I ran out there and saw the owl fly away, but no sound from the wings flapping away. Thought it was barely getting speed but the owl glided slowly from backyard to backyard till I couldn't see it in the dark.
Had one take out 2 of my kids pets when I lived in the California mountains. I bought a 7 week old chow puppy most beautiful animal I've ever seen. This guy was so smart. First night he goes to the door and barks. He's 7 weeks old. I take him out and think to myself hey he's so smart I can start to leash train him. I walked back inside to get his leash came out 60 seconds later he was gone. I looked for him all night. Next day the culprit owl flew by with about a 5 feet wingspan. Yeah they're silent. Told my neighbor that owls dead. He said they'll let you out of prison when your kids graduate high school. I hate owls
How bout some photos of Snowy Owls! Seems like a good time. fmgee- those are great shots. And I've been watching Earth I and II!
Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus... that's Latin, in science, parochial schools, and amongst those who paid attention in school in general) are also communal. Like in the 60s. They roost together.
Here's an image of mine, unlikely to be observed by my fellow pipers. Count'em. Don't miss one. On the right, eight Short-eareds coming out of their roost on a late winter afternoon. The guy on the left, makes nine. Voles have nightmares about this stuff. But at about a thousand per acre (studies show), the odds are with the mice too... it's a balance of nature.
Here's an image of mine, unlikely to be observed by my fellow pipers. Count'em. Don't miss one. On the right, eight Short-eareds coming out of their roost on a late winter afternoon. The guy on the left, makes nine. Voles have nightmares about this stuff. But at about a thousand per acre (studies show), the odds are with the mice too... it's a balance of nature.
Hey brother I don't think you know what a chow is... he doesn't mean a Chihuahua He means a chow which is a very different much larger dog...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow_Chow
And he's in California, and I said Mountain Lion. So puppy chow still works.
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In the eastern US, large German Shepherds pee themselves at the sight of male Eastern Coyotes. Who run, tail-tucked, at the sight of Timber Wolves.
So, woof.
[Ontario Coyote image, January 2011]
Back to owls, and Snowy Owls. As requested.
A colleague of mine bands Snowy Owls. Nowadays he uses GPS transmitters too, to track their wider hemispheric movements. Science held, based on the science of dissecting owl pellets, that ducks were not a major part of the Snowy Owl diet. That ducks would disagree was yet to be learned by us. Using night vision technology back in the 90s, he observed Snowy Owls catching, killing, and feasting on geese and ducks with regularity. So, owl pellet dissection told a part of the story. What the Snowys were doing was eating the breast meat, a Snowy Thanksgiving, but not eating any of the rest of the bird! No bones ingested... to be detected in the owl pellet.
Snowy Owls, Gyrfalcons, and Polar Bears. Ice is both a problem and a way of life for them, evolutionarily speaking. So warming is an issue, with lots of science pointing to the northern progression of competing species. Also diseases, previously unknown to them... as like the diseases we brought to the New World, unknown to those natives.
Duck Commander.
Here's a quick sequence of images I captured, as a Snowy Owl goes in pursuit of the aforementioned ducks. This is a young female Snowy, hatched the previous summer and hardwired to the chase of ducks out on an open ice flow.
This pelagic lifestyle of (young) Snowys, Gyrs, and Polar Bears is key: threatened and diminishing.
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I am fortunate to have students of mine these days handling and banding owls (and hawks) with their students... I get "invited" to visit, as that old guy.
A colleague of mine bands Snowy Owls. Nowadays he uses GPS transmitters too, to track their wider hemispheric movements. Science held, based on the science of dissecting owl pellets, that ducks were not a major part of the Snowy Owl diet. That ducks would disagree was yet to be learned by us. Using night vision technology back in the 90s, he observed Snowy Owls catching, killing, and feasting on geese and ducks with regularity. So, owl pellet dissection told a part of the story. What the Snowys were doing was eating the breast meat, a Snowy Thanksgiving, but not eating any of the rest of the bird! No bones ingested... to be detected in the owl pellet.
Snowy Owls, Gyrfalcons, and Polar Bears. Ice is both a problem and a way of life for them, evolutionarily speaking. So warming is an issue, with lots of science pointing to the northern progression of competing species. Also diseases, previously unknown to them... as like the diseases we brought to the New World, unknown to those natives.
Duck Commander.
Here's a quick sequence of images I captured, as a Snowy Owl goes in pursuit of the aforementioned ducks. This is a young female Snowy, hatched the previous summer and hardwired to the chase of ducks out on an open ice flow.
This pelagic lifestyle of (young) Snowys, Gyrs, and Polar Bears is key: threatened and diminishing.
---
I am fortunate to have students of mine these days handling and banding owls (and hawks) with their students... I get "invited" to visit, as that old guy.
Speaking of owl pellets, when I was in high school I went on hikes in southern Nevada to specifically harvest owl pellets. We would go in caves and other places to find them and take them back to the lab and dissect them. Always fascinating. If I recall we "reassembled" kangaroo mice.
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