For owls that are superb.
@[email protected] is singlehandedly keeping this place alive so I thought I'd also participate and share a photo I took last month. This is a burrowing owl I photographed on the grounds of a hotel in Brasilia. A couple of these guys made their burrow in a little ~~hole~~ hill at the bottom of the garden and were seemingly unbothered by hotel guests that were walking past. I have a couple of other shots but this is my favourite. Thanks for all your superb owl posts anon6789!
Aww, you're too kind. I'm glad you got to see some of these adorable little ones in person!
I started doing it as a silly thing, but you all have made it so rewarding, and I look forward to hearing from you guys and seeing you have fun as a group every day. Especially now, it feels good to be constantly providing you with something positive every day.
I feel a bit cheesy promoting something about myself, but someone is working on a monthly best of Lemmy poll, and some people have tossed my name into it, so if you wish to vote for me, which I will consider as a vote for us, as that is less awkward to me, you got vote for SuperbOwl here.
Thank you again for you guys coming here every day and making this a fun place together!
Thanks for the heads up, I voted!
All hail @[email protected] !
No, seriously, your owl posts ( and not only posting images, but always important context. Not just context copied from the source, mind you. ) are superb.
I'm always glad to hear it makes your day better.
You guys have done a bit of posting lately too, and that is always a good thank you to me. I want to see what you guys like as well. I'm always happy to chime in when you share something, especially a nice bit of original content like this post. I love us having things you can't find anywhere else!
Great shot! I saw my first ever burrowing owl in Brazil, although in the Pantanal instead of Brasilia. After trying and failing multiple times to see them in the US, I spotted this one the first day I was in the Pantanal
Edit: spelling
Awesome you got to see them too, they're very charming! It's funny how some bird species are rare and skittish where you live, then you go to another country and they're just there and don't give a shit about you being around.
So very true!
I like it struck a nice pose for you! 😁
It was very accommodating
I've seen them called "Howdy Owls" due to their apparent curiosity when people come by. They like to check out who's by the burrow.
I only got to see one captive one, and it most definitely was not giving me a friendly face. 😅
A quick look made it sound like the area you were in was a bit different than OP, so if you didn't see I posted a subspecies guide to ID what variety of Burrow Owl you saw, give that a look. Yours looks less brownish than theirs.
Interesting! Reading through them I wonder if mine was A. c. cunicularia
I think that is a good candidate for sure. Can't see the spotting or barring too well, but the back (dorsum) spots and especially the belly (ventrum) are very white. Pantanal looks to be right in line between Bolivia and the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
A. c. juninensis is maybe possible, especially if that belly is all white, but that seems to be a bit west of the Pantanal area.
Found this page which has a photo or 2 of each subspecies.
This was really fun for me, I've never dived down into investigating subspecies before this, and it's cool to see how different they can be from each other. This is why I love you guys sharing stuff as it gets me to think about things that haven't gotten on my radar!
I was looking at your photo a few times and kept noticing how brown the face looked compared to the photos I normally see of Burrowing Owls, so I looked for a guide to subspecies.
It looks like one of the main subspecies of Brazil, A. c. grallaria, is known to have more brownish upper colorations. Here is the full description:
A. c. grallaria (Temminck, 1822). Includes A. c. beckeri (Cory, 1915). Resident across arid central and eastern Brazil [type locality = Faxina, São Paulo, Brazil]. Fairly large (wing>168 mm); dorsum dark with rufous wash; scapular spots small; ventrum dark, with buff wash on belly; chest band spotted; ventral bars rusty.
For the full guide, see here. It sounds like not much work has been done since many initial studies decades ago, but it's a good starting point for seeing some of the regional distinctions.
Cool I did not know that, thank you for sharing! Brasilia is somewhat 'central' so this makes sense. Here's a few more shots of the same couple.
I really like them with the tropical "tan."
That golden yellow/brown on the leading edge of the wing of the first one is extra flashy. Love it!
Really nice photo! (And thanks anon!)
I couldn't do it without you all coming to enjoy it and bringing up his topics and questions.
I had one, but lost it. Couldn't find it in any of the trees I checked.
I like you Stewart. You're not like the other people, here, in the trailer park.
Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick!
I'm glad you got my reference, thanks. Also I very much like your punctuation in that sentence. Perfectly captured the line.