I have been feeling neglectful of some of the more exotic owl species lately. All the GHO and Barred babies have been dominating my feeds recently, so I’ve been overflowing with that content.
This morning’s other post about the owl with 11 step kids was too good to pass up, but I was a little disappointed the photo wasn’t very high quality, so I’ll share some better pics with you now!
Here are a few owls photographed by Peet van Schalkwyc in South Africa.
This fluffy fellow is a Marsh Owl. It looks a bit like his cousin, the Short Eared Owl. I liked this picture because the little tufts are not usually in their upward position. Much like the Shorty, this owl nests in a grass lined divot on the ground.
Whoops, I never said the one above is a Spotted Eagle Owl.
Here is a journey of Bubos from South Africa, through north Africa and the Middle East, to India, up through East Asia, over the Bering Land Bridge, and down to South America. I didn’t include all the Bubos, but this should be pretty good showing how they changed as they spread out over most of the world. The Fish Owls also probably split off of this group in East Asia. The Snowy and GHO split off somewhere while the land bridge existed.
Spotted Eagle Owl
Pharaoh Eagle Owl
Arabian Eagle Owl
Indian Eagle Owl
Eurasian Eagle Owl
Great Horned Owl
Magellanic (Lesser) Horned Owl
Interesting to see them all!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! This is a bit more direct comparison then I’ve done before as well.
At one point I was going to show off every owl, one by one, but since about 1/3 of all species would pass for your average Screech Owl, I passed on that project.
I mean… I wouldn’t mind seeing that. But it may lessen the impact of the owls. I appreciate your effort.