Sunday, November 7, 2010

Better Bird Photo of the Weekend

A slightly closer bird this time.


So close you can even see the yellow of its eyes.

(Any guesses as to species?)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is just stunning...I feel like I am being watched though! what brilliant eyes!

Ron a.k.a. Danudin said...

Hope he is alright being handled like that. He looks like a bird we have in Australia, called a Race Boobook. "ninox novaeseelandiae"

Wren nests in... said...

Oh, boobook is soooo much better--dare I say cuter?--than our name for this owl!

I wonder if the owl banders still use a paint chip card to id the eye color? Seriously, a few years ago somebody figured out that a certain chip sample card of a particular brand's yellow paint exactly matched the various shades of those eyes! "This bird is a Y57" or something like that...

Must be the same insane folk who discovered that the owls' wings also glowed pink under black light depending on the age of the feathers... See what happens when you stay up all night in some stranger's garage/basement every night through the cold fall and winter (depending on whether you are merely on the migration path or are tracking these birds on their winter territory) listening to a continuous loop of "toot toot toot toot toot...."?! *lol*

These birds are notoriously and rather remarkably docile during the whole banding procedure.

MevetS said...

@ Wren: Paint chips? Check. Black light? Check. Toot, toot, toot? Check. Cold? Check.

(Although I wonder what was going on with the black lights in that basement?)

@ Ron: Yep, I'm with Wren, "boobook" is what I'm calling them from now on.

@ Tammy: Thanks!

Wren nests in... said...

Good grief, better watch what I comment on in the future--I didn't realize I knew the banding operation you were out with! *lol*

They had the paint chips but I don't remember if they had yet figured out the black light the last time I was there, so I can't help you solve that particular mystery. I think it just might be better if it stays in the realm of "don't really want to know"... ::still *lol*::