Owl: I am a “round owl”, not a “Yuanxiao”!

As we all know, the symbol of the Lantern Festival is the owl.

Owls are all members of the order Strigiformes, and their Chinese names are often "xx owl". Owls usually have a pair of large forward-looking eyes, and specialized feathers arranged radially around the eyes, forming a "big round face". An owl with a round face is called a round owl (Yuanxiao) ! (Mistakenly...

Long-eared Owl: What are you talking about? | Tuchong Creative

Taking advantage of the festive atmosphere, let's take a look at various cute round owls:

Various owls. Top row from left: Barn Owl, Eagle Owl, Fragrant Scops Owl, Eastern Screech Owl; Bottom row from left: Great Horned Owl, Mexican Spotted Owl, Spectacled Owl, Long-eared Owl｜Brad Wilson / Audubon

Two "ears" erect: Long-eared Owl

The owl at the beginning of this article is the long-eared owl (Asio otus). Its "long ears" are not ears, but hairs! To be precise, these are two tufts of ear feathers (real ears are located at the base of the ear feathers). Although they are not hearing organs, they can be used to transmit information.

When a long-eared owl encounters an enemy or competition of its own kind, it will stand up the feathers on its head and neck, spread its wings, and "swell" its entire body, making the opponent mistakenly think it is very large and strong, thus scaring off the enemy.

Long-eared owl intimidates enemies: I'm getting fierce! | Tuchong Creative

On the round face of the long-eared owl, there are a pair of huge eyes with red or yellow irises, which are watery and flickering, and quite cute.

The eyeballs of the long-eared owl are not spherical but tubular, with a short focal length. The short focal length and large pupil can improve the clarity of its night imaging. In addition, the density of rod cells on its retina is very high, which greatly enhances its ability to capture light in a dark environment.

Strigiformes are typically 10 to 100 times more sensitive to weak light than humans.

I can see it all clearly | Tuchong Creative

The face shape says "Love you": Barn Owl

The heart-shaped face is the hallmark of the barn owl (Tyto alba). This feature causes it and its close relative the grass owl (T. capensis) to be commonly called "monkey-faced owls" - look at this circle of fur, do they really look a bit similar?

Barn Owl ID photo｜reptilepark.com.au

The "alba" in the barn owl's scientific name means "white" because it is really white . Except for the yellow-brown feathers on its back and wings, the feathers on its head, chest and abdomen are mostly white.

At night, the white feathers reflect the moonlight, creating a striking white light that appears to be an obstacle to nighttime hunting. But in fact, under full moon conditions, the poor little vole will be frightened by the light reflected from the white barn owl feathers and unable to move. And the stronger the light, the longer the vole can remain motionless, creating a great opportunity for successful hunting - literally blinding the prey.

The round-headed barn owl, photographed in Xishuangbanna｜Beijing Xiaoguan

Barn owls have a very close relationship with humans. They like to prey on rats, and the rats in granaries are also their favorite targets. In many parts of Europe, barn owls build their nests directly in granaries. However, in some areas, the abuse of pesticides, rat poisons, and herbicides has made "food poisoning" the most common threat they face .

The little ghostly owl:

The ghost owl (Aegolius funereus) is a small owl that lives in the northern coniferous forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Although the word "ghost" is in its name, once you have seen what they look like, it is difficult not to use the word "cute" to describe these little guys that are only 18 to 27 cm long .

"Call me cute!" | Greg Schechter / Wikimedia Commons

Ghost owls feed mainly on small rodents in the forest. In years when food is plentiful, they tend to be local residents, but when food is scarce, they begin to wander.

A ghost owl popping out of a tree hole｜admss / inaturalist

In the same genus as the ghost owl, there is also a round-headed palm ghost owl (A. acadicus). In North America, the palm ghost owl lives in the coniferous forests in the north of its distribution area during the breeding season. Even if it migrates south for the winter, it will appear in various environments suitable for hiding and hunting. They have no direct connection with the palm tree that represents the tropical style of the south. If any reader knows the origin of the word "palm" in its Chinese name, please let me know.

However, the English name of the palm owl, Saw-whet Owl, does come from its call. Saw means saw and whet means grinding. This is used to describe them.

Rough and harsh cry

It couldn't be more fitting, reminiscent of the sound of a saw being sharpened on a file.

Let me see who came up with the name and complains that our names sound ugly｜Kathy & Sam / Wikimedia Commons

Another species related to the ghost owl is the gray forest owl (Strix aluco). In the ghost owl's habitat, human-caused deforestation has left patches of wasteland, providing a more ideal living environment for rodents. However, the increase in prey will attract large and medium-sized owls such as the gray forest owl, further increasing the predation pressure on the ghost owl...

Tawny Owl: I'm sesame-filled and I'm exposed! | Åsa Berndtsson / Wikimedia Commons

Embarrassed, silly, fierce, and cute: Little Owl with vertical stripes on belly

The Little Owl with vertical stripes on its belly!

As a small owl, the body length of the Little Owl is about 21 to 23 cm, and the wingspan is between 54 and 58 cm. It has a pair of large lemon yellow eyes on its face, and light-colored and flat "eyebrows" above its eyes. It does not have ear tufts like the long-eared owl and the eagle owl. Looking at its face, there are four words to describe it: embarrassing, silly, fierce, and cute.

"You are stupid, I am a bird of prey!" | Tuchong Creative

In China, the Little Owl is distributed in a large area north of the Yangtze River. It has also been recorded in southern Tibet and western Yunnan.

Little Owl with vertical stripes photographed in Yushu, Qinghai. There are four subspecies in China, namely the common subspecies A. n. plumipes, the Qinghai subspecies A. n. impasta, the Xinjiang subspecies A. n. orientalis and the Tibetan subspecies A. n. ludlowi｜Han Xuesong

In general, "night owls" are those that come out at night, but the Little Owl is not a pure night owl.

Many owl species, including the Little Owl,

The most active time is not late at night, but dusk.

In addition, the Little Owl will come out in broad daylight.

What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a little owl in the sun? | TuChong Creative

If you observe the Little Owl closely, you will find an interesting movement: it turns its head in a strange curve , which means it is paying attention to a certain target.

When it starts to be alert, it will float up and down, which looks like a "squat and squat" movement. If it feels strongly disturbed, its body will tighten and rise and fall violently, and its eyes will widen, which means it is frightened and will fly away randomly.

The one on the left is probably staring at something; the one on the right is probably scared by something, so it’s not interacting with the other one in a friendly way｜Kees Vanger / YouTube

Please remember that, at least in China, owls are not allowed to be bought, sold or kept privately . If you really like them, go to the wild more often. For example, in Beijing, you can see many kinds of owls, including the Little Owl.

Oriental Scops Owl on Peking University Campus｜Gao Daxiang

Beside the Miyun Reservoir, short-eared owls and little owls with vertical stripes on their bellies hide beside haystacks and dirt piles; in winter in city parks, long-eared owls can occasionally be found standing on branches; on the Peking University campus, Oriental scops owls return every year to breed; on the cypress trees in the mountains of Beijing, gray forest owls quietly watch the endless stream of tourists...

Finally, attached is an illustration of various owls that can be observed in Beijing. See how many of them you can recognize:)

Illustrations: Liu Jifan, Yu Mingwei © Symbiotic Domain

Author: lcy, Birdman Robbi, Liangliang & Uncle Xiaoye, Guan Xiangyu, Han Jing, Gao Daxiang

Editor: Liu Ke

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

If you need to reprint, please contact [email protected]