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

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sharp-tailed Grouse

 The Sharp-tailed Grouse is a large grouse with a sharply pointed tail, held straight up when displaying. It is brown with white and dark spots, arranged in cryptic patterns. The bird has light-colored undersides and a slight crest on its head. Yellowish eyebrows and pinkish-purple air sacs at the sides of its neck are visible on the male when he displays.

Males gather on a communal breeding ground, to display for females. When displaying, males point their tails up, spread their wings, hold their heads low, and stamp their feet. While doing this, they inflate and deflate the air sacs in their breasts, creating a booming sound.

Resembles, but slightly smaller than, female pheasant. Mottled with buff, slightly paler below. Tail short and pointed, with white outer tail feathers. Male has purple neck patch and yellow comb over eye; tail longer than that of female. Similar prairie-chickens are barred, not mottled, and show no white in tail.