Superbowl
For owls that are superb.
O RLY?
The wonky ears really add to the expression!
Fluffy. :)
I like the good news. Those rodent's lifes just got a bit more... Exciting.
Yup, I like being able to share the good stuff with you all best.
This fellow does indeed look hungry!
Those ear tufts! <3
They are especially fabulous on this one! 😍
I imagine it's getting all pumped up to fly, the eyeball version of a character licking their lips before eating something tasty. ☺️
Wait what? Do owls have an extra set of windshield wipers apart from their eyelids?
Nictitating membrane
As the other reply says, this is the nictitating membrane. A bunch of animals have them for various reasons.
I did this post about owl eyelids before that shows you some cool features. As a bonus, you kinda sorta but not really have a third eyelid too! Check the comments in that thread.
Beautiful. That's an impressive wingspan.
I like how the leopard print of her outfit actually matches the owl's upper and back patterns surprisingly well.
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Thank you! I got distracted before adding that in there.
I was watching one of these on a fence post in one of our fields a couple days ago. He knew I was there but didn't pay much attention to me as he watched for mice in the barley swaths. Huge guy (or gal, idk how to tell them apart).
One of the reasons owls would make bad pets is they have poor attention spans. Most owls don't even have interest in hanging out with other owls.
They are very big and majestic, and I always love getting a good up close look at them.
Telling owl sexes apart isn't the simplest thing to do. You can see if they lay an egg. You can see if they're the one spending the most time sitting with the eggs/babies. If there's a mating pair, the female is bigger. You can take physical measurements and body weight and compare it to special charts that will give a pretty confident result. And of course a DNA test.
Most of the time, even experts won't know unless they get the hands on time with it, or see it doing some of the specific behaviors I mentioned.
Darn dusty in these superbowl threads . . .
*snif*
🥲🦉