This lil guy didn’t get to fly but he was very cute

  • anon6789@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    5 months ago

    That is awesome!

    That Eagle Owl is so pretty. The eyes came out so lovely in the photo.

    Did you learn anything new or surprising from getting to interact with them in person?

    • Sylvartas@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 months ago

      Yeah I love how eagle owls look. Magnificent little fellas

      I learned a lot of things about raptors behavior, how they are heavily affected by their past experiences with humans, all of them have their own personalities, like some of them actually respond to flattery or praises, etc. I was a little surprised to learn that most birds of prey won’t fly if they don’t need to hunt for their survival because I never really thought about it but it makes a lot of sense, especially for predatory birds.

      • anon6789@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        5 months ago

        Conservation of calories has been one of the greatest things to changing my appreciation of birds in general. We all know we need to eat to live, but birds need about 1/3 of they’re weight in food a day to stay healthy. Every flight is the equivalent to us doing an all out sprint, and every flight that doesn’t leave them with more calories taken in than they put into the attempt leaves them in a worse situation. Too many misses and they may not have the energy to make another. It really changed my perspective on a lot of animal activity thinking about it that way.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        Ever heard the joke that if people could fly we wouldn’t do it because we’d consider it exercise? I guess owls feel the same ;)