Owling

Did you see this essay on owl etiquette? Food for thought, before you spit up the bones and fur. Personally, I wouldn’t announce an owl location on social media, but I very much like his point that owls are excellent ambassadors for recruits for friends of the wild. Because the planet has enough enemies already. (But not too friendly: the Harry Potter phenom has led to a rush of people wanting owl pets. No, no, no!)

Anyway, after I read this piece I went looking for owls. Yes, in Brooklyn! A Long-eared Owl was photographed in the borough not so long ago, in a area known for it’s Great Horned Owls. I don’t know of anybody else saw the Long-eared besides the photographer; it’s a most unusual species for Brooklyn. Gotta wonder if a GHO ate it…

I didn’t see any owls of any feather, but I found two pellets under different trees.Pellets, if you’re just joining us, are the regurgitated indigestible parts of prey. For owls, they usually look mouse-gray and filled with tiny bones. Owls are most known for spitting them up, but other species, including raptors, gulls, even kingfishers, do so as well.