Know Your Owls E-Book

Jack Byard

• Herausgeber: Old Pond Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 43

Beschreibung

Owls have been around for almost 6 million years. There are over 200 types and they are well-known for their excellent hunting skills.This book provides information about 39 owl species including their size, habitat, location, nesting and eating habits, plus other interesting facts. A photograph of each species allows easy identification of these beautiful birds

Leseprobe

Know Your Owls

Know Your Owls

Jack Byard

Contents

Ashy-Faced Owl

Balsas Screech Owl

Barn Owl

Barred Owl

Black and White Owl

Boreal Owl

Brown Wood Owl

Burrowing Owl

Cape Pygmy Owl

Central American Pygmy Owl

Colima Pygmy Owl

Crested Owl

Cuban Bare-legged Owl

Eastern Screech Owl

Elf Owl

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Flammulated Owl

Fulvous Owl

Great Grey Owl

Great Horned Owl

Guatemalan Pygmy Owl

Little Owl

Long-eared Owl

Mottled Owl

Mountain Pygmy Owl

Northern Hawk Owl

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Pacific Screech Owl

Pharaoh Eagle Owl

Ridgway’s Pygmy Owl

Short-eared Owl

Snowy Owl

Spectacled Owl

Spotted Owl

Striped Owl

Tamaulipas Pygmy Owl

Tawny Owl

Ural Owl

Western Screech Owl

Whiskered Screech Owl

Foreword

The beautiful owl has been around for almost 6 million years and there are fossils and cave paintings to prove it. Modern man has been around for a mere 200,000 years. Owls have for many thousands of years been loved, feared and hated in equal measure. It is still the same in these modern and enlightened times: they are the bringers of good health and fortune, or a sign of bad luck and worse. Little has changed.

There are over 200 species of owl that have served us in many ways, from keeping grain stores free of insects, rats, mice and other unwanted vermin, a task they still excel at in vineyards and orchards. A nest of two adults and four young will eat up to 1000 mice, voles, etc. during the nesting season, the young alone eating four each a day.

The owl cannot move its eyes, but to make up for this it can turn its head 270°. It also has three eyelids: the outer eyelids are normal, the upper lid closing when blinking, the lower lid closing for sleeping, and the third is a very fine membrane that moves diagonally across the eye to clean and protect the surface of the eye. The owl’s fantastic long sight, exquisite hearing, silent flight and patience are the main tools in its hunting arsenal.

Owls, for the average person, do not make good pets unless you have the skills to take good care of a wild creature; to take on an owl without the necessary skills is extreme cruelty. You are not Harry Potter. Please enjoy the beauty of owls in their natural surroundings or in owl sanctuaries specialising in the rehabilitation of sick and injured owls and the conservation of these beautiful creatures.

Credits

I have so many people to thank for their help and advice in the writing of this book, among them alan van norman, for his generosity in supplying most of the photographs, and Knut Eisermann, who despite their extremely busy lives, found time to answer my never-ending list of queries, and to Tony of Maple Leaf Images Skipton for his help and advice. Not forgetting my wife Elaine for an incessant supply of full stops and commas. Thanks also to my friends, young and mature, who, so they tell me, still enjoy the books. Long may it continue, please.

Size: 26–43cm (10–17in)

Weight: 200–400g (7.1–14.loz)

Wingspan: 106cm–119cm (42–47in)

The heart-shaped face is ash grey with an orange-brown surround; the upper body is yellow-brown with black wavy lines. The under body is yellowish brown with dark arrow-shaped spots. The eyes are black-brown.

The ashy faced owl was originally believed to be a sub species of the barn owl but it is now accepted as being an entirely different species. It is found only in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, living in lowland forest and forest edges where trees with large enough cavities can be found. As the forest shrinks and disappears, so do the nesting cavities and the ashy faced owl. Its diet consists of mice, rats, tree frogs, snakes and insects. Little is written about its breeding habits, but it nests in natural cavities in trees, rocky crevices and abandoned buildings. It is also accepted that the period from the three to seven eggs being laid to fledging is similar to the barn owl, about 50 days. Hoot: rapid clicks followed by a two- to three-second raspy wheeze. I know the feeling well.

Size: 27cm (10.5in)

Weight: 150–174g (5.29–6.17oz)

Wing length: 170–185mm (6.7–7.3in)

Mainly grayish brown with large brown eyes with a dark brown surround with paler rims. The upper body has dark brown streaks and dark wavy lines. The underbody is paler with dark wavy streaks and short ear tufts.

The balsas is the largest of the screech owls and is found only in a small area in central western Mexico, living and hunting at altitudes of 600–1500m (1900–4900ft). Its hunting grounds are dry thorn forests. The thorny trees are scattered and average about 7–8m (23–26ft) tall. It perches on tree stumps and in the trees, where it is difficult to spot as its plumage provides superb camouflage against the bark of the trees. Little is known about the balsas, but it is believed it feeds on small mouse-like creatures and insects. I am told that no one has yet described the nest but the assumption is that it lives in tree cavities and breeds in June. Hoot is like a bouncing ball: hooh-hooh-huh-nuh-huhuhurrr. Yes!

Size: 33–39cm (13–15in)

Weight: 250–480g (8.8–16.9oz)

Wingspan: