this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2024
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Superbowl
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For owls that are superb.
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The bracket is made!
I think this year's lineup is an improvement over last year. Based on what I've seen, all the opening matches look very competitive. My goal was to fix some of the lop-sided wins we had, and I'm feeling good about how this schedule looks.
There's going to be some tough choices for you guys. Much like last year, I'm glad I don't need to decide, but I'm still going to have to accept some painful loses at some point. I try to keep impartial during the tournament, but I definitely have some personal favorites. Sooty vs GHO is one where I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to either one.
You guys didn't nominate my beloved Spotted Wood Owl. Buff Fronted got in, which I was happy for, but its first opponent is last year's winner.
I'm excited to see the Battle of the Southern Hemisphere between Australia's Barking Owl and NZ's Morepork.
We've got Eurasia's biggest owls going head-to-head.
Snowy, Burrowing, and Buffy are all up against some flashy newcomers where we could have a surprise victory like the unexpected triumphs the Flammulated Owl had last year,
I think I will start the games Wed, 4 DEC after I get back from some travel. Then we've got a little over 2 weeks of excitement to crown this year's winner. I'll put the final 4 owls in the banner again and the winner gets the icon.
Got a personal favorite you're ready to cheer on to victory?
Let me know which matches you are most looking forward to or dreading the most!
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I'd really like to know what David Lynch's problem with owls is. So much hate towards them in the first season of Twin Peaks. : ) I just moved to a wooded area this year where it's possible to see an owl for my first time. It's pretty deep in the woodsbased off the shriek volume but I'll take some time to try to find where he hangs out.
Side note...I'm just assuming it's a GHO based on the shrieks I've listened to online. It could also be something getting murdered.
A shriek sounds more like a Barn Owl. This video has most of the North American calls if you want to hear them in one place. GHO is a very deep series of 5 hoots for its common call.
Owls are perfect for creating a paranoid environment. Even if you know what is making the sound, it tells you something is watching you that you likely can't see it or hear exactly where it's coming from.
The alien encounter movie The Fourth Kind I believe also references owls in this way. I believe a few characters say "the owls aren't what they seem..." and if I'm remembering right at the end it just has an owl with an unblinking stare looking into the camera like it's watching you.
Yeah, after listening to that video it's definitely possible or even likely it's a barn owl. Some other site had GHO shrieks/screams but said they generally do that when they're younger. I have to make an effort to go outside around dusk and get calls down in my head or record it somehow. I really want to know what kind it is for sure. I can understand the lore surrounding owls after hearing the shriek a few times now. Before I actually put any real thought into what it was, I was pretty damn shocked lol. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
My pleasure. I love trying to answer questions you guys have.
If you search a project BirdNET-Pi, people have made a raspberry pi box that listens in your yard and charts all the birds that it identifies by sound.
Some here has one I believe, but I can't remember who it is now. It looks really fun and seems to provide a ton of data.
That's really cool. I'm going to look into that
Let us know how it goes if you do it. I've never done anything with a pi but I keep thinking it would be fun.
I haven't either but I've been building desktops for 30 years. I just started looking into some specifics and it's getting a little pricey but I'm in the process of convincing myself that it's worth it. The main things I'm worried about are waterproofing(which I don't see being addressed yet) and which way to power it. I'd like to get it a little ways back in the woods. Anyway, yeah, I'll let you know how it goes if I follow through.
It would be really cool to have a weatherproof one that can run off battery packs so you could stick them out in the woods like a trail cam. I'm sure someone could expand the sound database and add more than birds to it as well, a Deep Woods Pi if you will...
Yeah, exactly. The battery pack is an option but I'm not sure how often it would die out. Pi's are power efficient I would think but it's still a computer. I saw someone post something about a solar panel setup as well. A security camera I have has run off a cheap solar panel pretty consistently for a while now but it's not always on.
Yes, that was me. Unfortunately, I’m not the one who built it, I just enjoy the data, so I can’t offer any advice. 😅There are a lot of birds it picks up that I have never actually seen, including a Barn Owl. It’s pretty cool.
Are there people selling ready to go units or did someone you know make it?
I haven't remembered to read about it in a bit, but I feel it touted a pretty high accuracy rating. Do they update software frequently and/or have you noticed anything that was obviously inaccurate like it claiming a bird that isn't in your country or something?
My husband made it. I’m not sure how often it updates, I’m sorry. As to weatherproofing that was asked about, we keep it in the garage. I think the microphone is outside or right by the window, I’m not sure.
It’s generally pretty good. It picks up a bunch of warblers during spring migration that I can hear, but never can find in the trees. You can listen to the clips and check against audio from allaboutbirds.org or somewhere online.
It's not perfect, though. I know that it used to say there was an Eastern Screech Owl and we would listen to the audio clip and it was a siren. 😂 But that’s fixed now. Sometimes it will identify a Dunlin, which is a shorebird, which maybe is passing through during migration, but I doubt it. I haven’t looked into that one too much. There’s also some kind of goose that comes up now and then that could be passing overhead, but I think it unlikely. It said there was a Ring-necked Pheasant in the yard the other day, but again, I’m skeptical. This is the suburbs.
It’s pretty fun to “see” what birds are in the area that aren’t your standard feeder birds.
Thanks for the info!
I didnt even think about just having the mic outside. I was picturing it onboard, but I guess that's the great thing about DIY is you can do what you want!
I did find this one, where someone looks to have put it in outdoor rated enclosure. They said they were having issues with just their mic outdoors.
They said you can also use a Pi Zero or a "Le Potato" which are both much cheaper than a Pi 4 from the look of it.
I forgot you could hear the clips. I thought it just gave a chart of what birds it found with timestamps and things like that. It's cool you can double check it to verify things.