From Marcellus Muller
A few Short Eared Owl flight shots Photographed in Upstate New York on a Nikon D500- Nikkor AF-S 600mm F/4E lens + 1.4t.c
“Barred owl has the facial disc, right?”
*opens post*
“Dangit!”
Not the worst guess!
Shortie has yellow eyes and a dark beak, Barred has dark eyes and a yellow beak.
this is a random thought, but I kind of wonder if they ever just… fly for fun.
not hunting or finding small game. like I wonder if they ever just have a nice breezy day and they’re like “Hell yeah…” and they go up in the air stream and just cruise for a bit.
I’m sure they do a bit of patrolling and looking for new things that show up on their turf.
From talking to vulture people, those raptors seem to do it to just chill since they can just float in the air currents and it uses almost zero energy.
Active flying is very energy intense, and migrating owls can lose significant body weight (20%-ish) over a few days. Calories are life, so conserving them by snoozing is probably a bonus moreso than flying.
I like to picture them enjoying it too though. How could they not get any enjoyment from such a special ability. If you haven’t seen Wild Robot yet, the part of learning to fly was so touching! The whole movie was amazing. 🥹
daww. yeah I guess it would take a lot of energy to fly. but I hope deep down they have fun when they do it =D
