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

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Albino Barred Owl

What is a leucistic bird you may ask—and how is it different from an albino bird? 
Although there is some disagreement in the scientific community as to what constitutes the differences between these two mutations, all the experts seem to agree on one point—albinos have pink eyes and leucistic birds have dark eyes. Albinism is a genetic mutation that prevents the production of melanin in the body, whereas leucism is a genetic mutation that prevents melanin from being deposited normally on feathers.

Learn more about Albinism or Leucism?
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/Albinism_Leucism.htm