this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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Flammulated Owl in Death Valley (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by anon6789 to c/superbowl
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Photo by Michael Siebold

This little one is a Flammulated Owl I saw on a hike in Death Valley last month. It's also a perfect example of why I love my new landscape lenses. I found the little one on the back end of a 2 mile hike in 100+ degree heat in Golden Canyon. I had decided to take the hike for some landscape photography and to walk through some of the filming spots from Star Wars: A New Hope. Loved the hike and I think I got some nice shots from it, but on the way back I saw what I knew had to be an owl I'd never seen before sitting in the shadows on the canyon wall. Normally I would have had a 70-200 as my long landscape lens and to bring a wildlife lens along I would have had to lug an 8 lb behemoth with me. Since I moved tot he R5, I picked up a 100-500 for landscapes and while I love it for those, it's also proved extremely useful as a hiking wildlife lens. There have been two or three once-in-a-long-time opportunities just like this one that I would have missed had I been limited to 200 mm. All that to say, it's been a lot of fun to be that much more ready for those unexpected gifts.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I read this as "flammable owl", and my first thought was- aren't all owls flammable?

[–] anon6789 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

According to the mice, you've got to nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

On a serious note, I have a report I did on that, but removed it because it was too depressing for here, but I haven't found a better place to post it yet.

As much as certain people try to make windmills appear to be the death trap for birds...uncontrolled methane flares are a very real danger. They're invisible, burn at thousands of degrees, and come out of what would be a great place for raptors to perch if it wouldn't roast them the second they get near it.

If anyone has a good spot to share depressing environmental news, let me know.

[–] blubton 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

[email protected] may be a good place, especially if you have some information on its impact on biodiversity. It's not a community dedicated to depressing news, but anything that has to do with science goes on Mander.xyz, even when it's sad.

I myself would be interested in articles you have to share, I never heard of this before!

[–] anon6789 3 points 7 months ago

Thanks. I feel I don't explore specific subs as much these days. My habits have become quite different since focusing on creating posts instead of being a lurker. All that scrolling time is mainly finding things to share with you all now.

I'll rework my article a bit for a more general audience and get it up there. I feel it's important info as places are still pushing natural gas as a more earth friendly fuel, but it's not a pretty subject. I accidentally deleted it a few hours after I posted it, and decided to keep it deleted since it felt too dark for the vibe we have going on here.

[–] whostosay 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well would you just look at this fella

[–] anon6789 4 points 7 months ago

Every day is better when a Flammy makes an appearance!

[–] Chetzemoka 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Still my fave! Those hints of red in the camo just give it that little extra.

[–] anon6789 3 points 7 months ago

I thought we were due for some more Flammy. I liked this picture because I didn't know it lived near Death Valley. I didn't think there'd be enough trees to live in, but I don't really know what it's like out there. It doesn't sound like a place with trees. I know the Pygmy Owls live in cactuses, so I more pictured those there.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Those big eyes

[–] anon6789 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

A different kind of cute but cute nonetheless, looks like a robber out of something like The Wind in the Willows lol

[–] anon6789 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I tried to get it to look cute, but it kept making it so pouty looking.

Ever since someone pointed out the free ArtBot though, I've been practicing learning to talk our future overlord's language. It's interesting to see the interpretations the LLMs make. This was the best of my 16 attempts (4 prompts making 4 attempts each).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If it helps, I was questioning there for a minute whether it was an actual tacky porcelain animal from like the 70's haha

You're more patient than I am that's for sure, I would probably get too frustrated to go through that process lol

[–] anon6789 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I mainly just enjoy learning new things, plus it takes the right amount of time between some of my morning tasks today. Even getting a reasonablly close hat is tough. Most of them looked more like Pilgrims, and even though I told it to make it look like Puss in Boots, it didn't look anything catlike and it didn't even include boots whatsoever until I made a description of those. I specified it should be holding the hat in front of itself, though as you can see, that never happened.

If you enjoy owl kitsch, check out this post from my stop at The Zenith.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Hey, no judgment here, sounds like you enjoy messing around with it, and it's definitely a skill that takes practice! I just know that personally I don't have the patience for that and would end up rage quitting in frustration lmao
I do find it interesting that it didn't figure out the cat like aspect of things, considering how similar they can look!

Love that post! The orange and blue twin owls popped out at me the most, they look so cheeky 😂

[–] anon6789 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There were so many owls in that room! I saw it on YouTube, but it was smaller and more intense feeling in person. It's just surreal having that many eyes on you in a bathroom!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

It looks incredible but I definitely couldn't brave that in person myself, consider that an accomplishment lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, he looks a little flammulated.

[–] anon6789 2 points 7 months ago

It's what it was born to do! 🔥🔥🔥