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This one is equally good.

They’re available a bunch of places, but I didn’t see any from the actual NPS. There’s one site that looks somewhat official, but it is not.

That is amazing! Animals know what they like!

I’ve gone on a bunch of cave tours, and I’ve frequently heard many caves were discovered by cows, as air coming from the openings provided them natural air conditioning!

Shorties always look so amazing. You may not get cool cape flapping noises if it’s made out of silent feathers though! +1 stealth 😁

Aww, you edited it.

He does run with the herd more than I’d prefer, but that’s just how he is.

I’d vote for Joe Bison for president. Love his initiative.

Lol, couldn’t find that, but I did see this one:

I love me some corvids. I’ve built up my relationships with my local clan of Jays from when I was WFH, and we have a bunch of them in the clinic now, along with a crow and a raven.

They’re all wonderful, but I’m still biased toward the owls and raptors.

No matter which Scops I pull out of the bag, it’s always going to look amazing!

Looking at this photo again, it’s as if it selected a tree painted with a mural of itself. 😁

It’s not the size of the brain, it’s how you use it! 🤪

All libraries should have a guardian owl of some sort!

Owls don’t belong all crammed together in post offices anyway. It’s for the best.

Also JKR was fine with having all those male owls play the role of a female owl character back then! 🤔

It’s likely a combination of the two things. It sounds like specific effort was put toward the Barn Owls, but Little Owls are usually considered and indicator species because human development creates numerous advantageous environments for them, but they’re also closer to the negative things we do as well.

This article was a little sparse on specifics I’d like to see, but it is better than the one I saw today saying Saw Whets have people up in alarm about things due to expanded migration but didn’t really say much more than that. Some of these articles feel more like previews for actual articles not yet released…

Eliminating second generation rodenticide, maintaining appropriate habitats, and educating people that would use poisons or have control over land development about the advantages owls can bring are key areas where progress can have huge payoffs. We need to make sure the is both land for owls to hunt and reproduce, and to make sure that food is actually safe to eat. Modern poisons aren’t metabolized the way old ones were, so they accumulate into quantities high enough to hurt the owls. Rodent control in closely populated areas is a valid concern, but that is a specialty of the owls after all.

Any number of tasty things really. Rats, mice, voles, shrews, birds, the occassional unlucky hedgehog or stoat.

Twit twooooooo… Night owls of London 😁

Lol I’ve been feeling we’ve gotten mired in some devolution recently. 😒

I tried to extract a frame but the resolution isn’t great. You can kinda see the obstruction of the pupil better than the actual membrane, but it’s taking advantage of its “eye armor” known as the nictitating membrane. You may have seen it on cats before, but they have a third semi-transparent eyelid that can keep their eyes safer in a scuffle. Momma doesn’t want to lose her visual on her intruder, but she also doesn’t want to catch a beak to the face.

Here’s a clearer image of the membrane on this Great Horned.

I feel we just get “surprised” when we get a real glance at what life is like for wild animals. Many of us have pets, but it’s not quite the same. People with livestock have a better idea when they see things like pigs to chickens do brutal things when most of us would still consider them as pretty tame. But those guys are still domesticated, so wild animals are really going to surprise a lot of people.

The people at the clinic have been talking about herons lately. I think of them as big, beautiful, graceful birds that like fish. Now I hear the stories about how they are really dangerous to the rescuers and will go straight for their eyes to defend themselves, and I’m seeing them come up on my wildlife photographer feeds where they are killing and eating squirrels and other mammals. So many things happen in the blink of an eye and with such violence that we don’t expect from the modern and removed from nature lives most of us have.

Whenever I see animals come up against each other, I just remind myself that this is a natural situation and sometimes one side will win, and others the other one will, and it’s how the world keeps its equilibrium. I do want them all succeed, though there is some bias in this particular scenario, but they’re all great animals with strong survival instincts. I appreciate both the fact that I don’t have to be in that situation myself as an animal, and just how much fortitude and perseverance all these underestimated animals possess.

I picture it as a “fake” in sports where you try to make it seem you’re going one way and then pounce if you fool your opponent.

As long as momma can keep her booty planted on that nest, magpie won’t be able to snatch anyone. I’m hoping poppa owl was able to get back while momma was stalling and together they were able to keep everyone safe.

The original post presented this as “caption this silly video” type of thing, but as a nice surprise most of the comments said it’s not really funny, that magpie is trying to snatch eggs/babies for dinner. Magpie’s gotta eat too, but we’re team owl here!

After coming face to face with our raven the other day, this momma is displaying some real nerves of steel. The magpie is smaller than the raven, but I’m also much, much larger than the LEO, and the magpie could absolutely cause her and any egg/babies some major trouble.

Even watching the little wrens on the porch fight off much larger starlings and woodpeckers, I don’t know if these birds are that brave or just plain crazy when it comes to keeping the nest safe. They are not to be trifled with! Bird parents are hardcore!

Aww, I am glad you liked it. Owls don’t usually live too long in the wild due to all the natural and manmade dangers, but given protection they can live a long time.

I got to know my man Hootie for a bit, and they didn’t know how old he was, but he had a medical procedure that the received as an adult that was banned over 20 years ago, and he lived at the park for a number of years after they acquired him, putting him near 30, which is very tremendous.

They are amazing animals and I’m glad I can help you enjoy them even more!