Comments on: Duck! I mean, owl!

By: itskurtins

itskurtins — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:58:24 +0000

Yes a beautiful burrowing owl. The local parks department has invited them into our local bay front park to keep the rodents down. They are active at dusk, and even before you can see them hovering in the westerlys which are quite strong here across from the Golden Gate.
One day I was walking with my dog past some brush and one flew out. That was quite an experience. But I had no camera.

By: another mike

another mike — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:28:17 +0000

I was doing solar observations one day, er, I should say the computer was doing observations; I was watching a field mouse at my feet. Much more entertaining. Apparently, I was sitting still enough to be landscape. A red-tailed hawk dove in out of nowhere and

BAM!

Scratch one mouse.
/poor mousie
//cool story, bro.

By: Marzia

Marzia — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:56:33 +0000

AND DUCK!

REALLY DUCK!

SALLY SPARROW

DUCK NOW!

I ought to say it.

By: gray lensman

gray lensman — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:22:51 +0000

This illustrates why you should always wear a hat in the woods, particularly at dawn and dusk. Hair is prey to an owl.

By: The Giant

The Giant — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:34:33 +0000

The owls are not what they seem…

By: Grizzly

Grizzly — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:54:41 +0000

Canada, not Canadian. Most of the Canada Geese are actually United Statesian.

By: Ramón

Ramón — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:35:07 +0000

Phil, I only wanted to tell you I have just received the best book in the world, in Murcia (Spain). And, by the way, I also received your book! ;o)

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:31:15 +0000

I had the opportunity to work with birds of prey one summer, doing shows for tourists. Carrying a Great Horned Owl on your forearm isn’t too much effort, until they get nervous and start sqeezing those talons. Even with a glove its a lot of pressure!

By: csrster

csrster — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:35:54 +0000

And I was expecting a dull image of the Owl Nebula

Owls are just so cool. I used to dream about them when I was a kid – probably an after-effect of The Owl Who Was Afraid of Dark, a book with an astronomical theme, btw.

By: Buzz Parsec

Buzz Parsec — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:37:17 +0000

@arensb,

Adapted? Weren’t they created that way to render rodents, just like human hands were created in a particular fashion to more readily grasp bananas (and other banana-shaped objects?)

By: arensb

arensb — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:59:50 +0000

Coincidentally, Not Exactly Rocket Science recently had a post about the talons of birds of prey, and how they're adapted to different diets and modes of attack.

By: TechyDad

TechyDad — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:26:43 +0000

@Grizzly,

Ugh, I hate Canadian Geese. My uncle used to own a home by a lake. We could walk to the pier barefoot, get on a boat and row around. The only problem was that Canadian Geese were there too. It wasn’t a minefield. That implies great areas of clear land and then a “mine.” It was an inverted minefield. There were scattered patches of clear land surounded by great distances of goose droppings. You needed to hop from clear patch to clear patch hoping that you didn’t miss/slip.

By: No one here

No one here — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:21:51 +0000

I use to wander why they were associated with witches, in some cultures, until I heard a pair of courting Barn Owls screaming late one night. Talking about some scary stuff! On another encounter, I was hiking when I came across a pair of Barred Owls hunting in the forest. It is amazing how fast, beautiful, quiet, huge, and ghostly these owls can be in the wild.

By: Romeo Vitelli

Romeo Vitelli — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:31:52 +0000

“And Lo! The Bird is On The Wing”

Omar Khayyam was an astronomer and a mathematician, btw.

By: JohnW

JohnW — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:25:42 +0000

Wasn’t just you seeing wierd things, Brian, at about 17 seconds I got a distinct impression of something Cthulhoid for some reason!

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:47:14 +0000

Notice that the legs don’t look like a bird’s legs. They look extraordinarily long, like those of a rabbit or a frog. Or is that just me?

By: CoolHandl

CoolHandl — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:29:49 +0000

I was watching the Leonids a couple of years ago when a Great Horned Owl flew directly overhead. It was quite startling, as it took a couple of seconds for me to work out the scale of this silent, winged silhouette and identify it.

By: I'd rather be fishin'

I'd rather be fishin' — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:29:25 +0000

I’m staying away whatever he or she was using for bait.

By: Grizzly

Grizzly — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:10:46 +0000

Off topic, but your headline reminded me of a run I took with a buddy a couple of years back along a running path in Calgary that follows the banks of the Elbow River. The path was fouled with excrement from Canada Geese and my buddy stepped into a patch. He filled the air with expletives, but wasn’t paying attention to the fact that we were heading for a dip in the path that only just accommodated someone’s overhanging deck. I shouted “Duck!” and he replied “No, a ^*#@! goose!” just as he smacked his noggin.

As I said, nothing on topic, but…

By: Chip

Chip — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:50:18 +0000

You never know, there might be something living elsewhere in the galaxy the looks like an Owl.

By: Harold

Harold — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:35:03 +0000

I’m sure this information is out there, but – how was this done? Camera disguised as a rabbit?

By: justcorbly

justcorbly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:29:54 +0000

The last thing seen by many a field mouse.

By: Phillip Helbig

Phillip Helbig — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:23:34 +0000

Surely, due to his good night vision, an owl would be a good astronomer.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:13:28 +0000

While there’s a myth (debunked) that ducks’ quacks don’t echo, loons’ calls are made of echo.

By: MichaelL

MichaelL — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:58:34 +0000

Very cool!