March 11, 2012 - Owl Festival
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The International Festival of Owls in Houston, MN featured several sessions for photographers. Four “educational owls” served as models and we were able to photograph them at close range. Each owl has an injury that prevents it from being released back into the wild. Here is a composite photo showing head shots of the four owls.
Great Horned Owls are very common and are found over most of North America. As very powerful hunters, their prey includes rabbits, rodents, birds, and even skunks. They have tufts on top of their head which are not ears, but simply feathers that stick up. I was interested to note the light-colored feathering on the feet.
This little cutie is an Eastern Screech-Owl. Only about the size of a Robin, they can be gray, like this one, or reddish-brown. In the United States they are found almost everywhere east of the Rockies. Because they are so small, their prey consists of small mammals and insects. They nest and roost in natural tree cavities or old woodpecker holes. The book “Lives of North American Birds” says that some Screech-Owls bring small, blind, wormlike snakes to their nest. These snakes burrow into the debris at the bottom of the nest and eat insects, thereby protecting the young owls from parasites.
Barred Owls are fairly large, 17–24 inches tall. They do not have “ear tufts” and are one of the few large Owls with dark eyes. Their call sounds like “Who Cooks for You, Who Cooks for You-all.” Although mostly active at night, they are sometimes seen hunting during the day. Prey consists of small mammals, birds, frogs, snakes, and lizards.
Snowy Owls are getting lots of attention this year because so many of them have come south for the winter. The explanation for this “irruption” seems to start with last year’s large population of Lemmings, their favorite prey. This allowed the Snowy Owls to have lots of offspring. Then the Lemming population crashed, forcing many of the Owls to come farther south to find food.
Snowy Owls are built for cold weather. They breed in the far northern areas of the Arctic Tundra and usually spend the winter in Canada. Here’s a close-up showing that even their feet are heavily feathered to help keep them warm. Those talons look like awfully lethal weapons!
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