SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Monday, November 21, 2011

Q: When is an Owl not an Owl?

                                                                                                                        Tawny Frogmouth

A: When it is a Tawny Frogmouth!
Often mistaken for an owl, the tawny frogmouth is actually a member of the nightjar family. The bird is named for its large mouth, which it uses to catch insects and small animals. Both male and female tawny frogmouths have gray plumage with occasional black streaks.  Owls belong to the order of Strigiformes, while Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) are sometimes placed in the order of Coraciiformes which, in Australia, includes kingfishers and kookaburras.

The reasons for the confusion are plain to see. Here is a bird with the same mottled, cryptic pattern as an Owl, with wide eyes, and keeping the same nocturnal habits as many owl species. Further adding to the confusion is that the call of the Southern Boobook Owl is often wrongly attributed to the Tawny Frogmouth. It is for this reason, that the Tawny Frogmouth is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a Morepork, or Mopoke.
It is only with a closer examination that one will see the marked differences between these two orders.
There are other species of Frogmouths and Nightjars that are often confused with owls, but the Tawny Frogmouth is the one most commonly mistaken for an Owl.*

Southern Boobook Owl