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

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Northern Hawk-owls

Here's a good example of a diurnal owl.
Northern Hawk-owls are a non-migratory, irruptive species with a range that extends around the world in the northern "boreal" latitudes. They are a permanent resident of the boreal Taiga forest where their primary prey consists of voles and Snowshoe Hare. A wide range of other small mammals and birds make up the rest of its diet. Like most owls, they have exceptional hearing and can pinpoint the location of a vole as it tunnels a way under deep snow.

Below are among the best places in the world to see Northern Hawk-owls:

In the US: Northern Minnesota and Alaska
and in Europe: Scandinavia