Winnipeg Zoo

[guppiecat]

More from the Winnipeg Zoo set. (I'm going to call it "The Winnipeg Zoo", because I can pronounce that. Apparently the zoo is named for the park, which is named for the river, which is named for the people, which are also known as Asiniibwaan, which means "Stone Sioux", which is not how they referred to themselves, which was Hohe Nakota, which I can pronounce.) Today is for owls. Owls are known for knowing things, but it must be noted that while all owls know things, all owls are not all knowing.




Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - This owl knows about rendering and dresses up as a wireframe for Halloween.


Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - This owl has specialized in knowledge about civic engineering. He is considering flying to Detroit and assisting with the redevelopment effort.


Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - This owl knows a lot about communication, but isn't sharing.


Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - This owl doesn't know as much as others. He specializes in comic book trivia. (Specifically DC (Specifically DC Vertigo (Specifically Sandman (Well, really just issue 50 (most of it anyway (He liked the pictures but didn't bother reading all the text (He's a bit of a lazy owl, actually)))))))


Ural Owl (Strix uralensis) - This owl is deeply knowledgeable about charcoal sketching, but useless when it comes to painting.


Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus tuftsi) - This owl is an expert in typography, and really wishes that you'd stop using Comic Sans.


Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus tuftsi) - This owl knows a lot about numerology, but still doesn't understand why telephones and calculators have the digits in different places.


Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) - Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) by guppiecat.
Burrowing owls are experts in tunneling, but not structural reinforcements. There have been issues.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"Ah-Sin-Ah-Boin." "Boin" rhymes with "coin."

HTH,

K.

[trishtrash.livejournal.com]

Burrowing owls are my favourite of the owls, simply because they're so unlikely, almost anarchic.

Next is the little owl, but I guess Winnepeg doesn't got 'em.

I think you called the long eared owl correctly. Definitely a typography buff.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Tuftsi!! I definitely want that added to my species name.

I have an elementary question which I could probably answer by googling, but I will ask you first: what do owls use their beaks for? My image of owls (possibly influenced by film) is that they grab their prey with their feet and then take it off and eat it. But those beaks are wicked.

I love the way their feathers frame their eyes, like owl eye shadow.

[guppiecat]

Owls have claws that are good for grabbing and carrying, but not so good for ripping. Most birds of prey (owls, hawks, eagles) have curved beaks so they can plunge them into their prey and rip them open after they carry them to a safe place.

If you get time, google about for osprey claws. They fish, so their claws are great for grabbing fish... but not so great at letting go. Some drown if they catch a fish that's too big. It's a tradeoff.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the clue about the osprey claws; I'll look later.

One wonders about the efficiency of evolution: cormorants have no oil on their feathers, so they have to dry off in between fishing forays.

[guppiecat]

The thing that a lot of people seem to miss about evolution, is that creatures don't evolve to perfection, they evolve to "good enough" (or "slightly better"). Useless things don't get lost to time unless they are a negative and new fancy things don't evolve unless there is a need for them to.

Cormorants don't have oil on their feathers because they can compete against other water fishing birds just fine without it.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know that, but I can't help feeling that the cormorants have to work harder.

I did look up osprey claws, and WOW! They pretty much define the word "talon".

[ororo.livejournal.com]

I very much enjoyed this set, and your captions.

[beki.livejournal.com]

I love these. We occasionally will see a barn own when I leave at o'yuck it's early for work.

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

There was a great horned owl in a tree behind a customers house the other day. He found it because the crows were yelling at it and dive bombing. He let me use his binoculars to get a better view. By 'let' I mean 'insisted'. I love my customers.