Moving away from the rather esoteric groups that I've been covering lately, we are now at a group that is familiar to everyone, the Owls. Owls are predatory raptors in the order Strigiformes. There are several families, but we're going to see the most common of them: the Typical Owls in the family Strigidae.
Owls come in all sizes, from the diminutive Elf Owl - Micrathene whitneyi, of Arizona, the size of a sparrow, to the Great Gray Owl - Strix nebulosa, that reaches 28 inches in size, with a hug wingspan. They also vary greatly in their ecology. The Elf Owl, for instance, lives in holes made by woodpeckers in Saguaro Cacti. The well-known Great Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus makes huge nests of branches or even take over the nests of raptors, including the Bald Eagle. The ethereal-like Snowy Owl - Bubo scandiacus builds its nests on the ground of the arctic tundra.
Owls are perhaps best known from their calls. Anyone who has gone camping can attest to hearing the eerie sounds of the owls as the call to each other after dusk. The calls are so distinctive that owls can be identified by their call alone. While the call of some owls, like the Great Horned Owl, will frighten off other birds, the calls of other species actually draw songbirds in close to try and drive it off. Birders imitate the call of the small Eastern Screech Owl Megascops asio, which is a rolling, soft call, not the violent shriek so often attributed to it. That call is actually that of a Barn Owl Tyto alba. The Barn Owl is actually in another family, Tytonidae, and is ubiquitous on all continents save Antarctica.
The one thing all owls have in common though, is their diet. Owls without exception are predatory and will eat most anything it can catch. The Elf Owl eats bugs and lizards, Snow Owls lemmings and other small mammals, while Great Horned Owls will go after anything they can catch; rodents, skunks, Screech Owls, I've even heard of them killing a Red-tailed Hawk (though that's pretty atypical)
Today's bird is one of the few photos of birds from earlier days that is any good, and is actually quite amazing if I do say so myself. This is the Northern Saw-whet Owl - Aegolius acadicus. Amazingly, this owl is no bigger than my hand, about 6 inches tall. This boreal species usually nests in the coniferous forests of Minnesota and Canada. On rare occasions when food is scarce in winter, it and other boreal owls (though rarely ever the Boreal Owl - Aegolius funereus) come south and can be found if your lucky among groves of pine trees. This individual was found by a birder in a small grove of pines in western Missouri, and I and a good friend traveled out to see it. Unlike most owls, the Saw-whet Owl doesn't fly when it is discovered, it just stays put until whoever is bothering it goes away. This allowed for some great photos, but in retrospect must have been rather hard on this little guy.
Here's a closeup of this beautiful little bird's eye
Fantastic! I love owls and this is a stunning shot. Well done, Will.
Susan
Posted by: Susan Barnes | April 08, 2008 at 08:24 PM