In this recent post I covered a story about how climate change is actually doing just that! Individuals and groups have been constructing properly designed owl houses for years now to help them. What some were finding though is that these time tested designs are now killing owls in some places due to changing climates. They are now testing new designs and materials to deal with a changing world.
I also have this comment where I discuss "gular fluttering," which is the bird version of panting. The gular is full of blood vessels, so by rapidly pushing air over it, it functions as a heat exchanger. On my trip to the raptor rehab this week, almost all of them were doing just that.
In bird logic is makes sense. Birds are built to be as light as possible, with delicate, hollow bones that can get easily damaged by impacts. Their vision is imperative to finding food. One scratch to the end can make it impossible to eat. Enough damaged feathers and they can be left either unable to fly or the energy expenditure to compensate for the damaged feathers can lead to them starving.
They're fantastic little fighter jets when they're all in one piece, but it does not take much to put even a large bird into a very dangerous situation they can't recover from without us giving them medical attention immediately. They seem to have the appropriate awareness of fragile nature, and not matter how big or small the bird, they actively avoid physical confrontations. All the small birds have to do is make it inconvenient to the predator to stay, and it won't want to risk injury just to catch a nap.
All the small birds understand this as well, and it is a rare case of different species consciously working together when they gang up to run the big baddy out of town. They've learned an effective way to make up for their size. Stealth and speed are the big things the predators rely on, so in the day, as soon as they are spotted, they've lost the upper hand on the little ones.
Face looks too pale for a spotted owl. Lacks the white x. Also habitat...seeing one in a residential area means almost certainly a barred. You're seeing its back which can look pretty spotted on a barred owl.
Well, you made this super easy by giving me a location. Spotted Owls are West Coast owls from Canada through Mexico, so you've got a fine Barred Owl there.
But let's say we didn't have a location. How would we figure this out? Let's take a look at our 2 suspects side by side:
Now our friend the Barred Owl is given his name for that beautiful vertical barring on its belly. You can't see that at all though in your pic, and even in the first example it's kinda scrunched up and not super identifiable. Second pic it's very obvious though. But that wouldn't help you here, so what else do we see?
Look at those sweet faces. Both are adorable, but one owl has a pale face and one has a dark face. Spotted Owls have a darker base coloring, so they'll have a dark facial disc compared to the Barred. Now of course we have coloration in various degrees, but even when I try to find a darker faced Barred and a lighter faced Spotted, it takes a little longer glance, but I think you'd still have a good shot at getting it right if you gave it a solid look. Even here the Barred "eyebrows" don't stand out as much because the face is still much closer in base color to the white brows.
Again, whitish base for Barred lets those white stripes shine. Brown base for Spotted makes them more off white, and the back is, much like the front, more spotted than striped.
So all signs point to your guest being a Barred Owl!
The 2 get mistaken frequently, and with the hybrids it blurs the lines even more. That is one of the main concerns about the project to shoot the Barred Owls and hybrids to protect the Spotted. With Spotted Owls being so reduced in number already, killing just one by accident can be a huge loss.
So you did not get a visit from a rare owl, but it's still superb! I'm so glad you shared it and we got to learn a lot!
Anon, you are simply incredible!!! Thank you! I'll pass all this info on to my sister and tell her to try to get more pics. (And I'll be down there for a few days soon, so maybe I can do some owl stalking)
She said she's been hearing it around for a few weeks, so maybe it moved in close. I asked her to download the Merlin app and try to get a recording of its calls for me.
I don't know which way you go from MA to WV, but in North Jersey, you may want to visit The Raptor Trust if it's on your way. That's the first place I went specifically to see owls, and I plan on going back soon. I believe it's free.
I keep forgetting to post the article about staged "nature" shots from "back in the day." It has a great part about how they got to take pictures inside a Flammy's nest! 😨
Oh wow! I didn't know what a nudibranch was, but they are pretty nifty. I subbed to your comm. Even without know what they were though, that first one is pretty sus.
Those last three though I feel like the computer wasn't even trying! 😆
Those last 3 are kinda the thing that has me scared, where they're presented on a legit looking website mixed in with real information. It really can poison the well of information out there. Yikes!
I wish I would have saved the one I saw earlier today. It looked to be a large Tawny Owl with the eyes and beak of something like a tiny Saw Whet, giving it this huge forehead with stretched out brow patches. Totally bizarre.
they’re presented on a legit looking website mixed in with real information. It really can poison the well of information out there
I completely agree with this, I'm not against ai art (I've had a mini dabble to 'create' something, it's fun! and from a science perspective a photo realistic dinosaur created using up to date research can help present information and capture an audience) however, it does need to be labelled as such when depicting actual living things today
Also, the text on this website also reads like ai mind babble with lots of 'flowery' phrasing and repetition, I've no idea if it is ai generated but even my attempts at writing read better (I hope)
The 'authors' are also suss- '.....Sophia has a deep love for furry friends, from the tiny shrew to the giant elephant. She spends her days studying how these incredible creatures live, play, and interact with their environment. With a heart full of curiosity and compassion, Sophia is dedicated to protecting mammals and their habitats'
It's definitely got its tentacles in many places already. I've heard of AI with and illustrated books on Amazon, and I see many reviews and comparisons when looking at music gear written by a language model. If there's a way to make quick money, there will always be people that will do it regardless of its effects.
Like you, I agree there are many places it can be fun or beneficial, and I enjoy making some fun AI pics, but I wouldn't think of passing them off as my own work or as something real.
Copiers and printers have special hidden identifiers built in, so perhaps someday AI content will be the same, but until then, we'll just have to keep being diligent.
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