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

Friday, October 19, 2012

Magic of the Snowy Owl

Ten months ago thousands of young snowy owls came here for the winter. That irruption was unusual, an atypical episode in a life spent in one of the harshest habitats on the planet.
Where did those young owls come from?
What were their lives like in the arctic? How do they thrive in a place so foreign to our experience?

Next week we'll find out how when PBS NATURE premieres Magic of the Snowy Owl.
The program begins in familiar territory, a farm in Wisconsin where two young snowies hunt the winter fields. Meanwhile their parents are back home in perpetual darkness. The show’s excellent footage of the arctic night gives a real taste of life in the dark. In spring the camera crew searches for nesting owls, eventually finding a pair alone. Their solitude might not be a good sign.

 Will there be enough to eat?
 Will their young survive to adulthood?

Nestcam fans will love watching close-ups of Mother Owl with her cute babies. The saga of Father Owl’s hunt for food will sound familiar, but the dangers of polar bears and the plague of mosquitoes will not. And there isn't enough food. Eventually the parents have to move their entire family to the coast even though the babies can't fly yet. The young have to walk and swim(!) to get there. The family’s endurance is amazing. The snowy owls are almost magical.
Don't miss Magic of the Snowy Owl on Wednesday October 24 at 8:00pm

 Check your local listings for showtimes HERE


Watch Magic of the Snowy Owl Preview on PBS. See more from Nature.