For the Love Of Owls

Long-Eared Owls make their homes in North America, Europe, and Asia. They often live in the deserted nests of such birds like hawks, ravens or magpies. These owls are known as the most slender owls in North America.

They have long, close-set ear tufts that they hold flat to their heads when in flight, orange faces with blackish highlights around the eyes and dark streaking and barring on their undersides. To protect against predators long-eared owls can blend in with their surroundings with their sleek silhouettes. These owls prefer to roost in dense foliage next to tree trunks where their slimness and dappled brown plumage make them almost invisible.

Their diets consist of small mammals. Male owls begin a courtship ritual with aerial displays and calls and afterwards they form monogamous pairs. The female then lays a clutch of two or ten eggs in a stick nest abandoned by another bird. The female incubates the eggs but while on the nest the male brings her food. She wi;l brood until the new hatchlings can leave the nest.

Barn Owls are known for their white heart-shaped faces. These owls can be found on every continent except Antarctica. These owls are found in open areas around farms, marches, grasslands, and similar habitats.

These owls have striking heart-shaped white faces with gold backs infused with gray patches. The pale gold or tawny colorations extends also to the breast in females. Barn owls are nocturnal and hunt at night flying low over the ground. They have asymmetric ear openings that let them capture prey with pinpoint accuracy in total darkness.

Their diets consist of rodents like rats, mice and voles for this reason they are welcomed by farmers. Barn owls also catch other birds, amphibians, and large insects.

These owls will raise their young in barns, silos. church steeples, and abandoned buildings, They accept nest boxes and at times will nest in duck blins, mine shafts, and caves, Females can lay as many as 12 eggs in a clutch and nest twice a year.

Spectacled owls make their home in southern Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America living in dense, old-growth rainforests. The owls can be seen near water, in treed-savannah plains, plantations, and semi-open areas with trees.

These owls have white markings around their yellow eyes which look-like spectacles and are able to easily hide in the tropical foliage. Spectacled owls are nocturnal and are active at night. Sitting on tree branches when prey is located quickly dropping down and pouncing on them.

Spectacled owls are carnivores and their diet includes mammals, frogs, lizards, invertebrates like caterpillars as well as carbs, snails, large insects, and spiders, They'll also include birds in their diet like jays, oropendolas, motmots, pigeons, and perhaps smaller types of owl.

These owls are monogamous and will form long term bonds. In Costa Rica, females lay eggs in the dry season from November to May and at the start of the wet season from June to July. They nest tree cavities. Females lay one to two eggs and incubate them for about five weeks, If two eggs hatch only one owlet will survive the smaller one usually dies from starvation or aggression from the larger nestling, They depend on their parents for several months.

Oriental Bay Owls are found throughout Southeast Asia. They make their homes in dense evergreen forests near bodies of water.

These are small to medium-sized owls with broadheads and slightly tufted ears. They have striking angular facial disks with dark V-shaped facial marking running down the center of the face between the eyes. The plumage is pale buff or light chestnut brown with dark flecks underneath Their short, rounded wings are dark chestnut brown with black and yellow spots.

Their diet consists of small rodents, bats, birds, snakes, frogs, lizards, magpies and large arthropods like beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders, They hunt from a perch flying through trees to easily catch their prey.

Breeding for Oriental bay owls are the months of March, April, and May with eggs laid between March and July. They nest in hollowed-out tree trunks. Both parents take care of the offspring. Three to five eggs are laid with the females incubating the eggs and the male hunts and brings food to feed the offspring.

Eastern Screech-owls can be found all over eastern North America from Canada to Mexico.

These owls are short, stocky birds with large heads and almost no necks. Their wings are rounded and tails short and square. They have pointed ear tufts that are often raised and they can be either mostly gray or reddish-brown.

These owls are mostly active at night and they hunt for birds and small mammals as well as insects, frogs, lizards, and tadpoles. They have great camouflage skills and can find the perfect matching tree cavity to roost.

These owls have elaborate courtship rituals and approaching a female while calling will bob and swivel their heads and entire body. If accepted by the female the pair will touch bills and preen each other, Eastern screech owls mate for life but if one disappears the other will seek a new mate.

Snowy owls are one of the largest and the heaviest owl species in North America. They are mostly found in the Arctic tundra of North America, Europe, and Asia but will sometimes visit the Eastern Seaboard of the US. In the winter they can be found along shorelines of lakes and the ocean as well as on agricultural fields and airports.

These owls are very large with smoothly rounded heads and no ear tufts, They are white birds with various black and brown markings on their bodies and wings.

Their diets include voles, lemmings, and other small rodents as well as birds. These owls hunt in the light and in the winter like to find food in the darkness. They hunt hovering in the air looking for prey or watching from a perch.

Snowy owls prepare nests by April or May with males scratching the ground and spreading their wings, The nest is usually a shallow depression in the open tundra, Egg-laying begins in early May and there'll be around 7 to 9 eggs up to 15 or 16. Male owls bring the food to the nest and surplus food is stored nearby. The females alone brood the young, often while simultaneously incubating stil unhatched eggs.