Day 28 - Learning about owls

Day 28 - 30 Days Wild wasn't my top priority today as I had lots of other things to do, but I did get close to an owl and learned something new.

In the afternoon, I spared a bit of time to follow paths through woods and meadows...

A common nettle tap moth I think

I think this is a lygus bug nymph - correct me if I'm wrong.

Some kind of Tachnid I think... can't get to species level!

...and visit an owl display. These owls are all captive raised. Some were rescued after injury and are not able to be released back into the wild... I'm not sure how the non-natives came to be here though.

Great grey owl

Tawny owl

Barn owl

Scops owl

The star of the owl show was this Northern Pygmy Owl, a species from Arizona which is critically endangered.  They're very small. Smaller than a blackbird. Here's a - link - to a photo which gives a better sense of scale.

These owls have 'eyes' on the back of their heads to spook potential predators as they spend a lot of time on the ground during the day.

I learned something interesting from the 'owl man' too - yellow eyed owls fly in the day, orange eyed owls are crepuscular and owls with black eyes fly at night. That seems really obvious now and I can't believe I didn't know that - but then I've never given much thought to owl eyes before.

Back home later in the day I had a peek at my grapefruit halves, which are still in the garden.  The slugs are definitely enjoying them, even if nothing else is, so I'm leaving the two halves out for their benefit - they seem to make good slug caves! They are just beginning to go mouldy though so they won't last too much longer!

  Not a terribly wild weekend which is a shame as it was the last one, but at least I did get out today - and I learned something new about owls too!